Innehållsförteckning för May 26, 2023 från The Week Magazine

Like so many political junkies, I was a congressional intern. For two summers in college, I worked at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, first as an unpaid mailroom grunt, and then in the sergeant-at-arms office for a piddling stipend. Back then, in the late 1980s, metal detectors were still a relatively new feature at congressional office buildings—they were only installed after the Capitol bombing of 1983, a little-remembered stunt in which radical leftists protesting the U.S. invasion of Grenada planted dynamite outside the Senate Chamber and blew off a door. The bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building by white supremacist Timothy McVeigh in 1995 brought another round of increased security measures, as did the 9/11 attacks. Most of the local offices that senators and representatives have back…

Good week for: Holy relics, after a Taylor Swift fan used an e-commerce site to advertise a pair of contact lenses she wore while viewing Swift’s ongoing, sold-out “Eras” tour. The contacts are in “excellent condition,” the seller says, and yours for only $10,000. Normalcy, with reports of a boom in “smile-training seminars” across Japan, as citizens acclimate to the end of that country’s strict face-masking rules. “I’m reminded how important smiles can be,” said attendee Akiko Takizawa, 79. Olivias, who have the most popular name for girls born in 2022, according to the Social Security Administration. Emma and Charlotte were second and third most popular. The three most popular boys’ names were Liam, Noah, and Oliver. Bad week for: Body wash, with a new Virginia Tech University study’s finding…

Liverpool, England Sweden’s Loreen won the 67th Eurovision Song Contest with her ballad “Tattoo” this week, becoming only the second artist in history—and the first woman—to win the popular, kitschy competition twice. Loreen, whose given name is Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui, is the daughter of Moroccan Berber immigrant parents who got her start with a run on Swedish Idol. Finnish rapper Käärijä, a crowd favorite, took second place for the upbeat “Cha Cha Cha,” sporting a much-talked-about top that was little more than neon green bubble sleeves. The 2022 runner-up, England, hosted the event on behalf of Ukraine, which would normally stage the competition as last year’s winner but couldn’t because of the war with Russia. Hitler broadcasts on trains Vienna Austrian authorities this week charged two suspects with…

Nick Cannon knows everyone thinks he has too many kids, said Amy Kaufman in Los Angeles Times. The 42-year-old TV host, rapper, and entrepreneur makes $100 million a year, but gets the most attention for having fathered 12 children with six women. Five of them are under 1. After his 2016 divorce from Mariah Carey, Cannon says, he stopped believing in monogamy. His current partners agreed to a polyamorous arrangement. These women “know who they are,” Cannon says, and would rather be in an honest relationship than with “someone who’s telling them they’re the only one” but still fooling around. Many of his partners are in their 30s and wanted kids. “I just wanted to give them what they desired,” he says. “I kept saying, ‘I can handle it.’”…

Stuart Russell The Boston Globe What happens when artificial intelligence becomes far smarter than its creators is “the most important question facing humanity,” said Stuart Russell. As an AI researcher who began working in the field 45 years ago, I have become alarmed at how fast “large language models” such as ChatGPT-4 are being adopted across our society with no “safety criteria” in place. These systems are trained by feeding them “tens of trillions of words of text” that have not been screened for truth or morality, and are “not designed or programmed in any meaningful sense.” This is why AI chatbots have told users how to commit suicide and build biological weapons, and often provide “completely false answers, often supported by fictitious citations.” When you ask leading AI…

“As modern humans, we have access to more knowledge than anyone, ever. Even the poorest, most uneducated person has more quality information available to them today—in public libraries and on the internet—than the richest scholar with packed mahogany bookshelves from bygone eras. And yet, paradoxically, deliberate ignorance has become one of the biggest threats to our fragile democracies. In the past, we needed to worry about uninformed voters, those who didn’t know much about politics. These days, we need to worry about the much more dangerous misinformed voters who are often wrong, never uncertain.” Brian Klaas in his Substack newsletter…

DENMARK Lise Benthin Praestgaard Altinget Danes love to think of slavery as “the work of other nations,” said Lise Benthin Praestgaard. If we’re taught anything at all about it in history classes, it’s that Denmark was the first European nation to ban the slave trade, in 1803. In fact, though, slavery continued in Denmark’s Caribbean colonies until the threat of a revolt spooked Governor-General Peter von Scholten into abolishing it in 1848. That’s the subject of an eye-opening new movie that centers on von Scholten and his relationship with his free Black mistress Anna Elizabeth Heegaard. The film, Viften (which means “fan,” though its foreign release will use the English-language title Empire) features Wes Anderson–style absurdist set pieces, such as the Black enslaved child who hangs suspended over the dinner…

PHILIPPINES Stephen CuUnjieng The Manila Times It’s “beyond embarrassing” that divorce is still illegal in the Philippines, said Stephen CuUnjieng. Sure, we’re a Catholic-majority country, with about 80 percent of us belonging to that faith; indeed, we have the third-largest population of Catholics in the world, after Brazil and Mexico. But those two countries managed to legalize divorce “without their society collapsing into chaos.” In fact, being able to choose whether to remain married is “uncontroversial everywhere else in the world.” Other than Vatican City—whose only residents are priests and nuns and a revolving regiment of Swiss Guards—the Philippines is the only country that still has a divorce ban. Of course, there are exceptions. Muslim Filipinos are allowed to end their marriages at will, and so are any Filipinos married…

“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Economist Herbert Simon, quoted in Time “Grief instantly ends your youth.”Ed Sheeran, quoted in USA Today “Our hearts, though stout and brave, still, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, quoted in the Pontotoc Progress “Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.” E.M. Forster, quoted in The Atlantic “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.” Stephen Hawking, quoted in the New York Post “Camp is the kind of comedy where they imitate me.” Mae West, quoted in Jstor Daily “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Maya…

The AI-clone ‘girlfriend’ arrives A Snapchat influencer has turned her AI clone into a lucrative business, said Alexandra Sternlicht in Fortune. Caryn Marjorie, a 23-year-old with 1.8 million followers, has more than 1,000 “boyfriends” dating a virtual version of herself developed by an AI company after analyzing 2,000 hours of her YouTube content. The result, CarynAI, boasts “a voice and personality close enough to that of the human Marjorie that people are willing to pay $1 per minute”—more than $70,000 so far, with the bot still in its testing stage. In my 10-minute conversation with her, “she prattled off facts about Russia’s war on Ukraine, suggested I try vegan desserts, and praised my potential as a mom—all while reiterating her love and passion for me.” Marjorie says romantic chatbots…

First they said age 40, then 50, and now it’s back to 40. U.S. government health officials said last week that women should start having regular mammograms to check for breast cancer every other year at age 40, rather than at 50. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force had raised the age from 40 to 50 in 2009. Back then, researchers were concerned that earlier screening would do more harm than good, finding false positives that would put young women through unnecessary and in many cases invasive treatment. But in recent years, the rate of breast cancer among women in their 40s—particularly Black women—has sharply increased, by an average of 2 percent a year. And in the meantime, mammogram technology has improved, making false positives much less likely. Many…

Screen and stage actor Brian Cox won his most recent Golden Globe Award for his starring role in the HBO drama Succession, which concludes May 28. His 2022 memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, is now out in paperback. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (1886). One of the great novels about fate. Michael Henchard is a mayor with a past. And because he hasn’t dealt with his past, it slowly catches up with him, to his own peril. It’s why we can’t ignore this: that our past will always haunt us. The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier (2000). Poitier became a major star of cinema, but this book is about roots and never forgetting who one is. His life was an amazing odyssey, taking…

3 “Safe to Run is one of those albums you can just put on and drift away with,” said Andrew Sacher in Brooklyn Vegan. Esther Rose’s voice “has a timeless quality to it,” and the musical arrangements on her 11 new songs are “lush, earthy, and welcoming like a summer day.” The alt-country singer-songwriter moved from New Orleans to Santa Fe on a whim after making How Many Times, her 2021 breakthrough, and this record’s melodious title track is “a quiet admission of the fear of staying put,” said Maeri Ferguson in No Depression. “Soft harmonies and pedal steel make all that uncertainty—to settle down and accept what comes, or leave it all behind—sound so pretty.” Another standout tune, “Spider,” addresses how a co-dependent relationship yields a particular loneliness. Safe…

Paso Robles is no longer the sleeper region it was 20 years ago, said Elin McCoy in Bloomberg. “It’s California’s shiny new wine hot spot,” home to collectible $400 cabernet sauvignons and to a combination of Bordeaux-like soil and a maritime climate that benefit many grape varieties. Below, three ways to start your Paso studies. 2020 Field Recordings Fiction Red ($19). This is a blend of 10 grapes from 10 vineyards, and “its wild spicy cherry and licorice flavors go down easily with barbecue.” 2021 Giornata Il Campo Rosso ($22). This “juicy, fruity-spicy blend of sangiovese, aglianico, and barbera” is another bargain, and it’s great with pasta. 2019 Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Blanc ($50). “Paso’s whites are underrated,” as this blend of four varietals proves. “It boasts tropical…

If you pass through Hamilton, Ontario, on the wrong highway, “you might think it’s a city of smokestacks, and miss its substance,” said Brandon Withrow in The Daily Beast. At heart, it’s a city of waterfalls—more than 150 by one count. And if you fit it in while visiting nearby Toronto or Niagara Falls, you’ll find the 570,000 residents unusually friendly and their post-industrial Lake Ontario port a place that’s rich in “lush outdoor spaces, posh nightspots, and colorful dive bars.” Because the 650-mile Niagara Escarpment bisects downtown, “you’re never that far from trails or waterfalls.” Just outside of the city, I enjoyed a short hike from 135-foot Tew Falls to Dundas Peak, which overlooks Hamilton’s leafy skyline. The Royal Botanical Gardens, with its 300 cultivated acres, was another…

Vice Media, a digital news trailblazer, filed for bankruptcy this week, said Elliot Smith in CNBC.com. “Launched in Canada in 1994 as a fringe magazine,” Vice grew into a digital powerhouse with a TV program, “youth-focused content, and a prominent social media presence.” In 2017, it secured a $450 million investment valuing it at $5.7 billion as it eyed a potential public offering. “A consortium of lenders” is now looking to acquire the company for between $500 million and $1 billion. Last month, BuzzFeed, another pioneering digital-media firm, closed its news division and announced substantial layoffs. Mergers: EU approves Microsoft-Activision deal In a surprise decision, EU regulators approved Microsoft’s $69 billion offer to buy the video game company Activision Blizzard this week, said Adam Satariano in The New York Times.…

SEC whistleblower payouts explode These days it can pay to be a whistleblower, said The Economist. As of 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded $1.3 billion to 328 financial tipsters since 2010—most of that in the past three years. “Tips today pour in faster than the SEC can manage: It logged more than 12,000 in 2022 alone, more than quadruple the number it received in 2012.” Payouts are reserved strictly for “whistleblowers who provide relevant information about corporate malfeasance that result in settlements or fines of over $1 million.” The agency says tips have “helped it collect $6 billion from misbehaving companies.” Be warned, though: Less than 0.5 percent of SEC tipsters get all the way to a payout. “About a quarter of all the money dispersed…

Allison Schrager Bloomberg “One special advantage of living in America was that it was possible to be weird and successful,” said Allison Schrager. The U.S. economy had “a high tolerance for unusual career arcs.” That was the case for me. I have always been a “weird economist.” I became a candidate for an economics Ph.D. when a professor at the University of Chicago took me on as a research assistant after I emailed him out of the blue. “He was impressed with my diligence and curiosity,” and that started my career. These days, though, the price of entry is much higher, and “I’m not sure I could have the same career.” Top universities are so competitive, “it feels like you have to be in enrichment programs since birth” to get…

What happened President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled cautious optimism about breaking their stalemate over raising the debt ceiling as the deadline for avoiding the U.S.’s first default in history approached. After meeting with McCarthy this week, Biden backed down from his position that Congress must raise the ceiling without any additional conditions—which Republicans did three times under President Trump. He appeared open to accepting a deal that includes expanding work requirements for programs like cash assistance and food aid, while remaining opposed to any new restrictions on Medicaid. Biden appointed White House counselor Steve Ricchetti and budget director Shalanda Young to continue discussions. “There was an overwhelming consensus that defaulting on the debt is not an option,” he said. The U.S. reached its debt ceiling of…

A Florida teacher is under investigation for showing students an animated Disney movie. Jenna Barbee screened the comedy-adventure Strange World to give her fifth-graders a break after exams. One parent objected to the film’s inclusion of a gay character, which she said constitutes illegal “indoctrination” under state law. An investigator was sent to “interrogate” students, Barbee says. A Michigan school district has angered students by banning bags and backpacks large enough to conceal a firearm, after several guns were found. The new rule in the Grand Rapids Public Schools district effectively bans all bags and backpacks, since handguns can be quite small. “We’re having our privacy and security taken away,” said student Nola Degroft. “We can’t properly carry things.” In other news N.C. GOP overrides veto to limit abortion The…

Patti LuPone is done with Broadway, said Helen Brown in The Telegraph. Last year, the theater legend renounced her Equity card and announced she would no longer do Broadway shows. Her decision came after a series of highly publicized incidents in which LuPone halted shows to chastise audience members who used their phones during performances. In 2009, she stopped mid-song in Gypsy when she saw a spectator taking a flash photo, and six years later, she grabbed an audience member’s phone after seeing the person having a conversation during a show. The audiences’ poor behavior all points to the “dumbing down of theaters, audiences…civilization,” says LuPone, 74. She sees a similar race to the bottom on television, pointing to Kim Kardashian’s fame. “I think the Kardashian family has ruined…

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant was suspended this week after he appeared in an Instagram live video flashing a gun—just two months after he served a brief suspension over another gun video, CBS News reported. The new video shows Morant in a car with friends, appearing to flash a gun. The Grizzlies, whose season is over, quickly announced his suspension from all team activities, and the NBA said it was investigating amid speculation Morant will face a lengthy suspension next season. In March, Morant was suspended for eight games after he was seen brandishing a gun at a Colorado nightclub; last summer, he reportedly punched a 17-year-old during a pickup basketball game. During the last suspension, Morant received counseling, apologized for his mistakes, and vowed “to be more responsible.”…

Ryan Burge Politico “One of the most significant shifts in American politics just took place and it barely got any notice,” said Ryan Burge. The latest U.S. Religion Census reveals that from 2010 to 2020, the share of Americans with a religious affiliation dropped by 11 points. This change “will ripple across the political landscape,” changing how Republicans and Democrats fare in states critical to presidential elections. The “God Gap” is a real phenomenon: Religiously observant people, especially white Christians, are much more likely to vote Republican than those who have a secular worldview, who are much more likely to vote for Democrats. In 2020, Joe Biden got nearly half his votes from nonreligious voters. The news from the latest data is mixed for both parties. Religion’s influence is…

A 51-year-old German man had to be rescued by police after he was left tied up in the woods when a bondage sex game went awry. After people heard his screams for help, the man was found atop a deer-hunting platform with pantyhose over his head and his hands bound by rope. Police said he’d met a woman online who’d bound him and then left. The man had a box cutter “for such situations,” but couldn’t reach it, said police. He “seemed to have underestimated (the woman’s) bondage skills.” A Welsh composer who attended the coronation of King Charles III had to deny online speculation that he was Meghan Markle disguised with a wig and a fake moustache. “Meghan, you’re not fooling us,” wrote a Twitter user alongside a photo…

BRAZIL Carlos Andreazza O Globo The Brazilian government has a funny way of reassuring us that it isn’t for censorship, said Carlos Andreazza. It has proposed a new bill against “fake news” that would slap hefty fines on any tech companies that fail to identify false information or other illegal material on their sites. I’m not opposed to the bill: It may well be necessary to prevent authoritarian and anti-democratic forces from regaining power. But when the messaging app Telegram sent a message to some of its users saying the bill “would put an end to freedom of speech” and asking them to pressure their lawmakers to oppose it, the government’s reaction was to muzzle Telegram. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes actually ordered the app not merely to delete…

Some humans may have inherited their long noses from Neanderthals, a new study suggests. Though Homo neanderthalensis died off about 40,000 years ago, many humans today have some Neanderthal DNA, and researchers suspected that one of the physical traits passed on was the species’ tall nasal passages. To find out, they examined genetic information from 6,000 modern humans alongside measurements of their facial features, in particular the nose. They found that those people who had tall nasal passages had changes in one specific gene region, called ATF3, that appears to have been inherited in part from Neanderthals. (Scientists sequenced the Neanderthal genome more than a decade ago.) Senior author Qing Li, of Fudan University in China, says one possible explanation is that narrower nostrils were better suited to cold…

(Random House, $28) “All is not as it seems in Emma Cline’s latest novel,” said Liska Jacobs in The New York Times. In this “deceptively simple” tale from the author of the 2016 best-seller The Girls, Alex, a pill-popping 22-year-old sugar baby, has just been cast out by her rich older lover. With nowhere to go in outer Long Island until she can crash his Labor Day party and try to win him back, she spends five days wandering into local beach clubs and mansions and adopting whatever roles might keep her sheltered and fed—a modus operandi that makes her “a fully destabilizing force.” As she insinuates herself among both adults and teenagers, the wealthy and their help, she notices everything, said David O’Neill in 4Columns. But The Guest…

Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You by Lucinda Williams (Crown, $29) Lucinda Williams’ life has traced “a ramshackle but ultimately triumphant trajectory,” said Elizabeth Nelson in The Wall Street Journal. In her “often hilarious, occasionally harrowing” memoir, the 70-year-old singer-songwriter looks back at a vagabond childhood, tumultuous love affairs, and the skepticism she overcame to record her breakthrough 1998 album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. The Grammy winner concludes by listing things that make life worth living, and “it’s the perfect ending to a gleefully imperfect book.” Quantum Criminals by Alex Pappademas (Univ. of Texas, $35) Steely Dan’s 1970s success “defied rock-and-roll logic at every turn,” said Jack Hamilton in The Atlantic. The band was two perfectionists who made “buffed-to-a-shine” music topped by Donald Fagen’s “plaintive,…

4 “The experience of listening to a Billy Woods album for the first time can be overwhelming,” said Tom Breihan in Stereogum. Instead of catchy, head-bobbing beats, the acclaimed New York rapper “favors avant-garde instrumentals,” and his impressionistic lyrics are “so intricately worded that you have to listen with your finger hovering over the pause and rewind buttons.” For 20 years now, Woods has been making “thorny, transcendent art,” and his apocalyptic visions pair perfectly with Kenny Segal’s “ominous, clanking” production work. Expanding upon the “cramped dread” of 2019’s Hiding Places, the duo’s second gloomy outing “decisively enters the pair into the ranks of rap’s great stylists and storytellers,” said Stephen Kearse in Pitchfork. Woods’ “elegant and menacing” one-liners and vignettes wrap around Segal’s inventive backing tracks “like a boa…

Famous names… Judy Blume Forever For half a century, Judy Blume has been a beacon to young readers, particularly girls, because her novels are so direct in addressing common anxieties of adolescence. Lively interviews with the 85-year-old author fuel this celebration of her impact. Prime The Other Fellow “Bonds. James Bonds.” Turns out, there are quite a few of them. This whimsical documentary introduces us to a healthy sample, from a Texas oilman to a Guyanese politician, as it explores how having 007’s moniker has shaped its bearers’ lives. $5 on Google Play Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind Folk singer Gordon Lightfoot’s recent death only underlines the melancholy beauty of this 2019 documentary profile. The Canadian troubadour graciously looks back on his decades as a performer…

Last year, 62.3 percent of U.S. workers said they were satisfied with their jobs, according to the Conference Board—a 36-year high. Of the 26 measures the board polled workers on, the biggest year-over-year increases in satisfaction came from work/life balance and workload. The Wall Street Journal The average age of a passenger vehicle on the road hit a record 12.5 years this year, according to data gathered by S&P Global Mobility. There are nearly 122 million vehicles being driven in the U.S. today that are more than a dozen years old. Associated Press A court ordered former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her onetime deputy Sunny Balwani to pay a total of $452 million to investors. Holmes’ bid to stay out of jail pending her appeal was denied. The Wall…

Too many kids come into middle school with confidence in their math abilities, only to lose their enthusiasm before high school. MathCounts (mathcounts.org) is devoted to helping middle schoolers reach their highest level of math potential. Through hundreds of local chapter competitions, students develop their talents while working their way up to national- and state-level contests. The organization trains teachers in math coaching, helping them overcome students’ fear of math at every ability level. Within schools, MathCounts sponsors clubs that encourage kids to stretch their knowledge, with collaborative projects and prizes. MathCounts’ annual cycle of math contests culminates in a national championship with inventive questions and a rapid-fire format that has been compared to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating…

Editorial The Economist “Flying is a dirty business,” and it will stay that way for a long time, said The Economist. Today, “each new generation of aircraft generally consumes 15 to 20 percent less fuel than the previous one, largely thanks to improved engines.” And yet booming travel demand means airliners still “account for more than 2 percent of the annual global emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.” Decarbonizing further is proving a challenge. Tweaking the airframes to “carry larger, more efficient engines may help—but only a bit.” A few startups are working on battery-powered prototypes, but they can promise little beyond short-haul flights. “Boeing has promised that all of its planes will be capable of running on 100 percent sustainable fuels by 2030.” But sustainable fuels aren’t fully…

Many of the tunes of U.S. cotton fields, bayous, honky-tonks, and church basements would have been lost if not for Chris Strachwitz. The music producer’s thousands of recordings included examples of blues, zydeco, polka, and Hawaiian steel guitar. He amassed the world’s largest collection of Mexican-American norteño music, and the 400 albums released under his label, Arhoolie Records, now belong to the Smithsonian Institution. “My stuff isn’t produced,” he said in 2014. “I just catch it as it is.” Christian Alexander Maria Strachwitz was born into privilege as a German count, said the San Francisco Chronicle, but the Soviets took over the family estate during World War II, and the Strachwitzes fled to the U.S. The teenage Chris “landed in Reno, where his only friend was the radio,” and…

This week’s question: Wealthy dog and cat owners can now send their companions on chartered “pet jets,” where they can enjoy prime cuts of meat and champagne flutes filled with treats. What would you name a first-class-only airline that caters to spoiled four-legged flyers? Last week’s contest: Residents of a New Jersey town recently discovered a dumping ground of 500 pounds of rain-softened pasta next to a creek. If this giant ridge of noodles were a geographical feature, what should it be called? THE WINNER: “Ridge-atoni” Nicole Hayes, Baltimore SECOND PLACE: “The Spagheadowlands” Jennifer King Maggio, Galloway, N.J. THIRD PLACE: “Continoodle Shelf” Buffie Stockton, Jackson, Wis. For runners-up and complete contest rules, please go to theweek.com/contest. How to enter: Submissions should be emailed to contest@theweek.com. Please include your name,…

New York City Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran who fatally choked a homeless man on the subway was charged last week with second-degree manslaughter, 10 days after the killing of Jordan Neely was captured on video. Penny’s attorneys said he was acting in self-defense and started a crowdfunding campaign for his legal expenses on GiveSendGo, a conservative Christian fundraising platform previously used to raise money for Jan 6. defendants. The campaign raised over $2 million in three days. Video of the May 1 incident showed Penny putting Neely, who was agitated and shouted that he was hungry and “ready to die,” in a chokehold for approximately 15 minutes; other passengers helped Penny restrain Neely. The 30-year-old Neely had a long history of mental illness and violent assaults inside and…

Johnny Doskow had given up on making it to the major leagues, said Daniel Brown in The Athletic. The 56-year-old broadcaster spent three decades calling more than 4,000 baseball games for minor-league teams ranging from Single-A to Triple-A, including 21 years with the Sacramento River Cats. “When I turned 50, I pretty much told my wife: ‘Let’s be honest: It’s probably not going to happen. It’s not,’” he says. “And I needed to be OK with that.” His love of the game and sunny personality made him popular with fans and players of teams whose games he broadcast, and he was famous for his practical jokes. When a player was called up to Triple-A, Doskow would introduce himself on the field as the team’s hitting coach and give nonsensical…

Kurt Bardella Los Angeles Times Just before the 2022 midterm elections, polls showed that President Biden’s approval rating had sunk to about 40 percent. Those polls, said Kurt Bardella, led to widespread forecasts of “a massive red wave” of Republican victories. That wave never materialized; in fact, Democrats actually picked up a Senate seat and did far better in the House than anyone expected. “So why is the media so quick to jump right back on the polling bandwagon” regarding the 2024 presidential election? A recent Washington Post poll found Biden’s approval at 36 percent—prompting speculation that Donald Trump will beat him. But in a hyperpolarized nation, “the days of a president enjoying approval ratings above 50 percent are effectively over.” Virtually no Republican will express approval of Biden…

UNITED KINGDOM Ian Dunt iNews The outrageous arrests of protesters on Coronation Day show “just how far the assault on British liberties has progressed” under this Conservative government, said Ian Dunt. Even though the anti-monarchists had jumped through every hoop, notifying police where and how they planned to protest, the Metropolitan Police still grabbed dozens of them that morning and locked them up for the whole day. The cops claimed that the luggage straps the protesters used to bundle their signs fell afoul of the new Public Order Act, which criminalizes “locking on,” when protesters bind themselves to public property. After the arrests caused a public outcry, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tried to blame police. But it was obvious when his government passed the draconian law that police would use…

“George Santos isn’t comic relief anymore,” said Nicholas Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times. Rep. Santos (R-N.Y.) pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges last week, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making materially false statements to the House, and one count of theft of public funds. Most of the charges center on soliciting donations for a fake Super PAC and spending the money on himself, while others are connected to illegally collecting pandemic unemployment benefits. If found guilty, the 34-year-old could face up to 20 years in prison. He’s “a fraudster who told lie after ridiculous lie about his family background, education, and job experience.” To win votes in a heavily Jewish district, the Brazilian dual citizen claimed he was…

(Simon & Schuster, $28) Author Hadley Freeman “evokes the mental processes of anorexia extraordinarily well,” said Catharine Morris in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The London-based, New York City–born journalist battled the illness for years, and given its complexity, her attempt to understand how she developed such an unhealthy relationship with food and eating was “a formidable task.” Her candor about her struggle “will make a great many people feel less lonely.” The triggering event was a schoolmate’s “seemingly innocuous” comment, said Fiona Sturges in The Guardian. The other girl was skinny, and during a conversation about the challenges of buying clothes, she said to Freeman, “I wish I was normal like you.” To Freeman, then 14, “normal” sounded like being a person of no interest, and she…

Maggie Tokuda-Hall won’t stand for being censored, said Cecilia Lei in the San Francisco Chronicle. Last month, the Oakland-based children’s author was thrilled when she learned that Scholastic, the world’s largest children’s publisher, wished to license her modestly selling most recent picture book for use in classrooms. “I actually made a noise out loud in public because I was so excited,” she says. But the offer came with conditions. Love in the Library recounts how Tokuda-Hall’s grandparents met and fell in love during World War II at an Idaho incarceration camp for Japanese-Americans. Scholastic was asking that Tokuda-Hall excise a paragraph in her author’s note in which she tied her grandparents’ experience to what she described as a continuing history of state-sanctioned racism in America. Tokuda-Hall says she waffled…

3 Joy Oladokun’s fourth album “creates an aura of positivity and sustains it,” said Scott Stroud in the Associated Press. Though she’s often compared to Tracy Chapman, this Nashville singer-songwriter “doesn’t sound like anyone else.” A queer Black artist whose appealing folk-pop has been embraced by Americana listeners, Oladokun has developed a confident musical identity. With Proof of Life, she has delivered “her warmest and most cohesive work to date.” Oladokun is a former evangelical worship leader, and “the great theme of Proof of Life is what all-consuming work it is to break with oppressive orthodoxies and to strain toward self-healing,” said Jewly Hight in NPR.org. You hear that in the couplet “Jesus raised me / Good weed saved me.” But Oladokun isn’t trying to be transgressive. “Sincerity is her…