Innehållsförteckning för November 7, 2025 från The Week Magazine

Chief Justice John Roberts, behold your dysfunctional handiwork. In 2019, the Supreme Court had a precious opportunity to restrict or ban gerrymandering—the antidemocratic dark art of drawing bizarrely shaped election districts designed to ensure that only one party can win. But in a 5-4 decision, the conservative majority ruled in Rucho v. Common Cause that while partisan gerrymandering may be “incompatible with democratic principles,” federal courts cannot manage the “political questions” created when legislators give their parties unfair advantage. In her fiery dissent, Justice Elena Kagan predicted that the court’s cowardice would enable further “polarization and dysfunction” that “may irreparably damage our system of government.” And so it has. A plague of partisan redistricting is now spreading across the nation, as Republicans and Democrats compete to eliminate each other’s House…

■ A Baltimore high school student was handcuffed and searched by armed police after the school’s AI-powered security system mistook a Doritos bag he was holding for a gun. The firm behind the system, Omnilert, said it regrets the incident, but added “the process functioned as intended” by flagging a possible weapon for “human verification.” Maybe so, said Baltimore County Councilman Izzy Patoka, but “no child in our school system should be accosted by police for eating a bag of Doritos.” ■ A Florida woman is suing SeaWorld for $50,000, claiming she was hit in the face by a flying duck while riding a roller coaster. The plaintiff says the bird strike knocked her unconscious, and that SeaWorld should have known and warned her about the danger of riding a…

A newspaper once called Greer Johnson the most powerful woman in baseball, said Charles Bethea in The New Yorker. In 1983, the then-34-year-old elementary school teacher met Mickey Mantle in Atlantic City, where the retired New York Yankees slugger was working as a casino greeter. They started dating, and Johnson became Mantle’s agent, showing him how to write a check and negotiating his business deals. She did the same for his Hall of Fame teammates, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. “They were just little boys grown up,” says Johnson. “When somebody would ask for Mickey for an appearance, I’d say, ‘Well, not only can I get you Mickey. I can get you Yogi and Whitey.’ I wouldn’t take a fee for them. Shoot, I was making as much as they…

George F. Will The Washington Post “One Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s knee was on his neck, another’s was grinding his back,” said George F. Will. George Retes, a U.S. citizen born in California who fought for his country in Iraq, was seized by masked ICE agents as he reported to work as a security officer at an agricultural plant in Ventura, Calif. The ICE agents shouted frantic commands, dragged him from his car, zip-tied his wrists behind his back, and left him on the ground for four hours. He was later strip-searched, had his DNA tested without his consent, and was detained for three days without charges or access to a lawyer before being released. When Retes wrote a newspaper article about his kidnapping, ICE claimed he’d been resisting…

Allen Sutherland Ottawa Citizen Canada is as eager to “right-size government” as the U.S., said Allen Sutherland. Our budget office recently pronounced our ballooning deficit to be “shocking” and “unsustainable.” But we should look at Donald Trump’s methods as a “cautionary tale.” His slash-and-burn approach to cutting spending is not just “messy and painful”—it’s also “unlikely to leave Americans better off.” Trump is degrading “world-leading American institutions in academia, science, national security, and foreign aid” in ways that could be “lamented for generations to come.” Building his ballroom as Americans lose benefits, Trump operates with a combination of hedge fund manager ruthlessness and cult-of-personality swagger. “Despite the serious consequences, this is not a serious approach.” There’s no “sense of stewardship” of government assets. Prime Minister Mark Carney, as he seeks…

For years, Iceland was the last place on Earth—besides Antarctica—free of mosquitoes. No longer. Scientists there confirmed the discovery of three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes on a farm in Kjós, just north of Reykjavík, saying the species likely arrived via freight. The volcanic island offers ideal breeding grounds for the bloodsucking insects, with its many marshes and ponds, but until now the species couldn’t survive the harsh climate, reports NPR.org. With the sea ice melting away and Iceland warming at nearly four times the rate of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, that appears to have changed. Common across Northern Europe, Culiseta annulata is known for tolerating cold conditions and often takes shelter in basements or sheds during winter. Fortunately, while its bite can be irritating, it is not known to…

“Lots of novels twice as long have half as much heft,” said Claude Peck in The Minnesota Star Tribune. This 200-page National Book Award finalist “manages efficiently to be many things,” among them “a complicated morality play.” In a heat-ravaged near-future Kolkata, a woman we know as Ma is a week away from escaping with her daughter and father for the U.S. when Boomba, a desperate villager, breaks into their apartment and inadvertently steals their passports. But Ma herself is not an innocent victim, and as author Megha Majumdar proved in A Burning, her 2020 debut, she’s “expert at creating likable people who end up doing unlikable things.” As Ma races against the clock, wrestling with indifferent bureaucrats and eventually with Boomba, Majumdar’s “acidic insight” dissolves the initial distinction between…

Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez (Hogarth, $30) “Renowned as a queen of literary horror,” Mariana Enriquez turns out to be just as compelling a realist, said Hamilton Cain in the Los Angeles Times. The linked essays in her new book recount visits to 21 of the world’s most interesting cemeteries. As she wanders Paris’ catacombs or Havana’s domed sepulchers, she “confronts mortality in a warm, inviting tone” while reading each graveyard for the stories it tells about cruelty and resilience. The book is “an immersive testament to her genius.” Trip by Amie Barrodale (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28) This “hilarious and intelligent” debut novel offers a unique glimpse of the afterlife, said John Paul Larson in the Chicago Review of Books. When the protagonist, Sandra, dies…

“Even bigger picture, slightly smaller sound,” said Chris Willman in Variety. That’s my verdict on Brandi Carlile’s eighth and “possibly most moving” solo release. It leans acoustic and “goes fairly gentle on your ears” while at times raising questions about what life is all about. The Grammy-laden Americana stalwart “continues to have the most commanding voice in contemporary popular music,” and the material she writes for that voice is at once “tricky and hooky, poetic and conversational.” It’s also “searingly honest,” including on “Church & State,” an angry rebuke of Trumpism and the album’s sole rocker. In the four years since her last solo album, In These Silent Days, Carlile has mostly flourished, said Andy Crump in Paste. She’s found success as a parent, a partner, an organizer, a producer,…

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (R) A kidnapped CEO might only appear to be human. “If Emma Stone didn’t exist, some of her movies couldn’t exist—especially not the ones she’s created with edgy director Yorgos Lanthimos,” said Amy Nicholson in the Los Angeles Times. The two-time Oscar winner “can play shrewd, silly, gorgeous, repellent, frail, and frightening simultaneously,” and she hits all those notes in her fourth feature with the Poor Things auteur. Stone portrays Michelle Fuller, a Big Pharma CEO who is kidnapped by two men convinced she’s an alien who’s working to destroy Earth. And while a rundown of the abuse Michelle suffers “would sound like a Saw film,” Stone renders the character so slickly insincere that she “makes it OK for us to laugh at Michelle’s torment.” Jesse Plemons,…

Michelle Wolf: The Well The comedian who broke the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with her anti-Trump jokes is back seven years later with a hilarious special that sidesteps politics for bits about becoming a new mother, how babies are sexist, and why it’s OK to hate your body. Netflix Mo Amer: Wild World The Mo star hits comedy gold riffing on the sympathy pains he had while his wife was carrying their son. The Texas-based Palestinian American also scores with bits on his unique heritage and the ways of the TSA. Netflix Leslie Jones: Life Part 2 You might not realize it, but you’ve been missing Leslie Jones. The Saturday Night Live alum returns to stand-up, delivering a fine no-filter set about getting older, the pitfalls of fame, and what…

Though they’re less celebrated and ubiquitous than bagels, bialys, too, are “worthy of veneration,” said Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper in the new cookbook Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing (Flatiron Books). Baked but not boiled, these onion-topped rolls take their name from Bialystok, the town in northeastern Poland where they originated. They arrived in New York City in the late 1800s, and back when our great-grandfather founded Russ & Daughters, the family “appetizing store,” bialys could be had on every corner on the Lower East Side. To us, they’re “best enjoyed toasted with a schmear of butter and a few slices of sturgeon on top.” But savor them any way you like. Bialys For the dough: 2¼ tsp active dry yeast2¼ cups warm water (90 to…

A growing trend that one travel expert has dubbed “market hacking” is helping luxury shoppers score great deals while traveling in Europe, said Chrissie McClatchie in Travel + Leisure. High-end shoppers find they can save thousands at the overseas Dior, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton boutiques compared with such brands’ U.S. outlets. One marketing exec told us she saved $600 on a Gucci “Jackie 1961” bag by buying it in Madrid. Factors contributing to the discounts include the dollar’s favorable exchange rates against the euro, automatic refunds of the EU’s value-added tax, and U.S. tariffs and tariff threats that inflate the prices on goods imported for U.S. sale. Throw in the credit card travel points that can be earned with purchases, and “shopping-specific trips” are even more enticing. Seeking other luxury…

Judd Kessler The Atlantic For decades, U.S. cities have tried to “circumvent the market” to provide housing, said Judd Kessler. They haven’t succeeded in making housing affordable. Instead, they’ve mostly given their residents lotteries that “provide only an illusion of hope.” To many people, letting developers sell housing to whoever can pay the going rate doesn’t feel fair. But it incentivizes building and expands supply. Meanwhile, the workarounds that cities have pursued are “cruel in their own way.” Last year, New York City received 6 million applications for 10,000 units that have rents capped at 30% of income. That means a 1-in-600 chance of winning that lottery. People who best know how to work the system—entering many times, “navigating complicated city bureaucracies”—have the best chance. The insurmountable problem here “is…

■ Walking to what she thought was an ordinary school event at a Buffalo, N.Y., elementary school, principal Brianna Lanoye was handed a veil and a white flower bouquet, then led out to the campus’s courtyard—transformed into a wedding venue. Waiting for her was her fiancé, Zach, and the school’s students from pre-K to fourth grade. A student officiated, and the bride and groom exchanged candy rings. While the real ceremony took place weeks later, Lanoye felt deeply touched. “They are all a part of my family.” ■ The Ironman World Championship triathlon in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, is a brutal test for athletes of any age: a 2.4-mile swim in Kailua Bay, followed by a 112-mile bicycle ride alongside lava fields and against coastal winds, before a 26.2-mile marathon with a…

Machine learning, after Kohler launched Dekoda, a $599 camera that mounts to a toilet bowl rim, analyzes users’ excretions, and sends data on “gut health and hydration status” to their smartphone. Kohler noted that “Dekoda’s sensors see down into your toilet and nowhere else.” Rationalization, after Rep. James Comer, GOP chair of the House Oversight Committee, said he’s unconcerned that Trump family crypto schemes lifted the income of the Trump Organization from $51 million in 2024 to $864 million in 2025. The difference between the Trumps and the Bidens, said Comer, is the Trumps “are admitting they’re doing this.” Self-acceptance, after reports that many Hollywood actresses are having their breast implants removed. Powering the “explant” trend, said Wesleyan professor Victoria Pitts-Taylor, is recognition that breast enhancements are “passé” and not…

Dublin Leftist president: Catherine Connolly, a left-wing lawmaker who has accused NATO of “warmongering,” was elected president of Ireland in a landslide last week with the backing of left-leaning opposition parties, including Sinn Féin. Connolly, 68, beat center-right former Cabinet minister Heather Humphreys 63.4% to 29.5% in a vote seen as a rebuke of the center-right governing coalition. An outspoken advocate of the Palestinian cause, Connolly entered the race a long shot but surged with backing from young voters as several rivals dropped out. Connolly succeeds Michael D. Higgins, who also has pushed for ending the Gaza war, in the mostly ceremonial role. “I will be a president who listens,” she said, “and a voice for peace.” Palermo, Italy Mafia case reopens: Italian prosecutors have arrested a retired police officer,…

Malala Yousafzai made a remarkable recovery after being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012, said Sirin Kale in The Guardian (U.K.). The girls’ education activist—who was 15 when a terrorist tried to kill her—resettled in England, won the Nobel Peace Prize at age 17, and earned a place at Oxford University. It was there that things started to unravel, as she tried to balance her studies with traveling for her nonprofit, the Malala Fund, and the paid speaking gigs that supported her parents and two brothers, as well as her extended family in Pakistan. Yousafzai’s grades suffered and she had to seek help from specialist tutors. The education champion, now 28, says she “felt like an impostor. I felt ashamed.” Then, one night in Oxford, she…

Stephen Collinson CNN.com “A president convincing his own Justice Department to furnish him with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer cash seems too absurd to take seriously,” said Stephen Collinson. But President Trump admitted last week that a jaw-dropping story in The New York Times was true: He’s seeking $230 million in damages from the federal government “over alleged rights violations” in Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s 2016 election interference and a later indictment for Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The payment scheme would need the approval of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—Trump’s former personal lawyer in the Mar-a-Lago case, who’s unlikely to say no. Even Trump conceded, “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.” You think? We have a “billionaire…

“The 250th anniversary of July 4, 1776, comes up next year. I’ve talked to two historians, one rightish, one leftish, and both conversations turned toward Thomas Jefferson’s stinging bill of particulars against King George III in the Declaration of Independence. They resonate in unexpected ways: ‘For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.’ ‘He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.’ ‘He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our Legislatures.’ ‘He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people.’ The Founders didn’t want any of that. It’s why they created a republic.” Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal…

Hernando Wills Vélez Semana President Gustavo Petro’s accusations against Donald Trump have sparked an “avoidable diplomatic crisis,” said Hernando Wills Vélez. Trump has been blowing up boats off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, claiming they contain drug smugglers, and Petro last week accused him of murdering a Colombian fisherman in one of the strikes. Trump responded by calling the Colombian president an “illegal drug leader,” halting aid to Colombia’s anti-narcotics operations, and hiking tariffs on Colombian goods even higher. The bickering has pushed us to the “threshold of an unprecedented geostrategic rupture,” the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1903 “loss of the Panama Canal.” Petro’s left-leaning government must acknowledge that our “erratic policy against drug trafficking and organized crime” is a major reason we’re the world’s…

Kostas Giannakidis News 24/7 Don’t Greeks work hard enough already? asked Kostas Giannakidis. Parliament’s new law allowing 13-hour workdays is billed as being great for employees: The worker must agree to the overtime, is compensated 40% extra for it, and is limited to no more than three such shifts per month. But it’s hard to imagine it was workers clamoring for this change. Many Greeks are already toiling at second jobs to make ends meet, which is why our country “consistently ranks first in Europe in terms of hours worked.” With unemployment averaging 13% over the past five years, we have little choice but to accept exploitation. We know that if we demand a raise, we’ll receive a pink slip instead. Submission is survival. “And here is where the deepest…

The Right has a new rallying cry, said Cathy Young in The Bulwark: “Blame women for everything.” In a viral essay for Compact magazine that’s caused a sensation on the intellectual right, conservative writer Helen Andrews argues that the “great feminization” of American institutions poses “a potential threat to civilization.” Now that women make up a majority of the college-educated workforce, college instructors, and law firm associates, Andrews asserts, they’re imposing feminine values on key institutions—“empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition.” This “woke,” touchy-feely approach is undermining the bold, “swashbuckling” masculine spirit that once defined these institutions, making them—and the country—softer and less effective. Until anti-discrimination laws are repealed, Andrews insists in her “grotesquely misogynistic screed,” things will only get worse. Like it or not, said Megan…

“Given its punishing nature, why read this book?” asked Emma Brockes in The Guardian. Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide at 41 earlier this year, went public years ago with her allegations of being raped as a 16-year-old by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and subsequently being trafficked by the pair to Britain’s Prince Andrew and other powerful men. (Andrew, for his part, denies any sexual contact with Giuffre.) “But while the book is relentlessly, shockingly hard, it is also a clear-eyed and necessary account of how sex offenders operate.” The deft narrative constructed by Giuffre and a co-writer “does what deposition can’t by taking us into the room with her.” And though it adds only one figure to the list of men Epstein allegedly trafficked underage girls to—an unnamed…

Angela Buchdahl is no longer satisfied with simply being one of America’s best-known rabbis, said Leonard Picker in Publishers Weekly. The first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi, she has been the leader of New York City’s influential Central Synagogue since 2013, and her sermons regularly attract 100,000-plus views online. The 53-year-old once was even the subject of a Jeopardy! answer. But with her new book, The Heart of a Stranger, Buchdahl aspires to share some of Judaism’s teachings with non-Jews. “I’d always wondered why most spirituality books that sell seem to come from a Buddhist perspective, and why there were not more from a Jewish perspective,” she says. “People who have no faith at all will find, I hope, some spiritual wisdom from this ancient tradition.” Buchdahl,…

Lily Allen’s first album in seven years takes listeners on a journey “from wedded bliss to the opposite,” said Maura Johnston in Rolling Stone. Since 2018, Allen has married and divorced Stranger Things star David Harbour, and she wrote West End Girl in just 10 days late last year, “taking brutal inventory of the scars she amassed.” With her “airy” soprano voice, Allen “can communicate disdain with a sighed lyric or an audible eye roll,” and she does so often. The title track, which opens the album, is “a luxe sophistipop cut structured like a horror movie’s opening,” because everything seems to be happily ever after for the singer—until her partner’s gaslighting and tomcatting sets in. By track 2, her mind is “a never-closing club where her anxieties about his…

Directed by Kelly Reichardt (R) An amateurish art heist goes sideways. If you go into The Mastermind expecting a typical heist film, “you’re going to be disappointed and puzzled,” said Matt Zoller Seitz in RogerEbert.com. Kelly Reichardt’s latest is “a relatively quiet movie that takes its time laying out its plot,” and the director uses the crime that dominates the first half mainly as a pretext to probe the character of the title figure, “a soft-spoken hustler whose profound selfishness becomes more apparent with each scene.” Josh O’Connor stars, playing J.B. Mooney, a privileged, underemployed father of two who in 1970 chooses to nick four abstract paintings from a small Massachusetts museum, and the actor proves again that “he’s one of the great recent finds in world cinema.” It’s “exciting just…

OpenAI completed its transition this week to a more traditional corporate structure, said Cade Metz and Lauren Hirsch in The New York Times, cementing Microsoft’s role and paving the way for new investors. The AI giant has become a public benefit corporation—“a for-profit corporation designed to create public and social good.” Its board will still be controlled by a nonprofit, the OpenAI Foundation. Microsoft will maintain a 27% stake, worth $135 billion, while “the nonprofit holds a 26% stake.” OpenAI also pledged to remain in California, helping secure the blessing of state Attorney General Rob Bonta. Economy: Fed issues modest rate cut amid unclear data The Federal Reserve approved its second consecutive quarter-point rate cut this week despite missing federal economic data due to the shutdown, said Jeff Cox in…

■ For Gen Z, it’s PR, not ER Gen Z workers are questioning why their job requires a “false sense of urgency,” said Rainesford Stauffer in The Washington Post. Chanyce LeDay, 26, says she used to drop “everything” in her life to complete projects in order “to please everyone.” But it never led to a promotion “overnight,” and she didn’t exactly work in a field “where lives and well-being are on the line”; she’s in marketing. LeDay is among a growing number of younger workers pushing back on the “frenetic approach to work.” A popular expression among this new generation of workers is that “we’re saving PDFs, not lives,” or “it’s PR, not ER.” Some career coaches say it’s healthy to communicate expectations. For example, “if you step in on…

June Lockhart was a mother figure for a generation of TV viewers. After years toiling in theater and films, she hit TV stardom in 1958 as Lassie’s warmhearted, unflappable Ruth Martin, wife to a Midwestern farmer and adoptive mother to 7-year-old Timmy and his spunky collie. She then played another nurturing matriarch in a hit series in the late 1960s: the campy sci-fi show Lost in Space. There, she was Maureen Robinson, a biochemist adrift on a spaceship with her husband, three children, a robot, and the villainous stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith. In a career spanning nine decades, she racked up more than 150 film and TV credits, but she was most identified with her maternal roles. “Motherhood has been a pretty good dodge for me,” she said in 1992.…

As Affordable Care Act enrollees get letters outlining their 2026 rates, many are experiencing “sticker shock,” said Anna Wilde Mathews and Sabrina Siddiqui in The Wall Street Journal. Premiums are set to spike 26% on average, according to KFF—but the lost federal subsidies could cause the premiums of many households to more than double. Clint and Cindy Kittrell, retirees in Pendleton, Ore., were stunned to learn that their ACA plan will now cost about $2,500 a month instead of $305. With chronic conditions that require regular care—he has muscular dystrophy, she needs injections for “crippling nerve pain”—they are considering moving overseas “where care might be cheaper.” As Republicans “grapple with voter frustration” over rocketing costs, they face a problem, said Joey Cappelletti and Ali Swenson in the Associated Press: While…

White House shakes up ICE in push for more arrests The Trump administration is purging Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s regional leadership amid growing frustration over lagging deportation numbers. Under a plan signed off by the White House, the heads of at least 12 of the nation’s 25 ICE field offices will be replaced with Border Patrol officials, reports NBCNews.com. While ICE has focused its operations on migrants with criminal records or final deportation orders, the Border Patrol has won favor with the administration by employing more aggressive tactics, including rappelling into apartment buildings from Black Hawk helicopters and conducting mass sweeps of residential neighborhoods. The heads of offices in five major cities—including Los Angeles and Phoenix, —have already been removed from their posts. An unnamed administration official told Politico that…

Stellan Skarsgard doesn’t think he’s raised any “nepo babies,” said E. Alex Jung in New York. The veteran Swedish actor has eight children, seven of whom have followed him into acting. None, he insists, have benefited from nepotism. “I consider myself a nepo daddy,” says Skarsgard, 74, “because I get so much goodwill and maybe jobs because of them.” He gets a kick when his children mock him in interviews, like when his son Alexander joked with Conan O’Brien about Skarsgard’s habit of walking around naked at home. “That lack of respect is very good. I don’t demand respect for being a father, for five minutes of joy.” Being a father of eight is expensive, he notes. “My family eats my money. I am not getting rich in this. But…

■ A “broke” Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning off seven high-end watches from his personal collection so he can “keep the ship afloat,” the famed director of The Godfather trilogy told The New York Times last week. Coppola, 86, hit hard times after spending more than $100 million making his 2024 passion project, Megalopolis. A critical and commercial flop, it grossed only $14.4 million at the box office. To get his finances in order, Coppola is now selling timepieces from his extensive collection, including his custom F.P. Journe FFC Prototype, which retails for around $1 million. Coppola remains optimistic that Megalopolis will eventually make a profit; 1979’s Apocalypse Now, today widely considered a masterpiece, also put him into debt but then made $150 million at the box office over the…

Lydia Polgreen The New York Times The death toll of Palestinian civilians in Gaza “might be even worse than we think,” said Lydia Polgreen. Now that there’s “a fragile and uncertain ceasefire” in Gaza, it’s time to assess “the true cost of this war.” Many Americans have dismissed the death toll of 68,229 provided by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, insisting it “must be an exaggeration to court international outrage.” But this death count is “unusually rigorous,” requiring names, ages, and easily checked identification numbers. With many Palestinians buried beneath Gaza’s “moonscape” of rubble, experts believe the count may underestimate the true number of dead by about 40%. Searching for ways to downplay this “catastrophe,” Israel’s defenders claim that most of the dead were Hamas fighters. But a survey has found…

Marc Baudriller Boulevard Voltaire “It wasn’t just the Louvre that was robbed” last week, said Marc Baudriller. “It was France.” When two burglars climbed into a second-floor gallery at the Louvre and made off with eight pieces of royal jewelry, including necklaces and tiaras that belonged to empresses past, they stole the priceless heritage of the French people. How could this happen? How can it be that we, “the most heavily taxed people in the world,” able to “finance a bloated administration of nearly 6 million people,” can’t properly store and guard our national treasures? The answer is that our government does not value them. We spend four times as much on our public broadcasting channels, “which are responsible for erasing traditional French culture,” than we do on preservation of…

President Trump is hiking tariffs on Canadian goods by another 10%, said Jeremy Schulman in Mother Jones, all because he “got mad at the TV.” The source of his fury was an ad taken out by the province of Ontario during the World Series, which used audio of former president Ronald Reagan “explaining at length why tariffs are generally bad.” The Gipper’s 1987 speech was slightly edited for TV, but the spot provided “a pretty accurate picture” of his opposition to the sort of import taxes Trump has slapped on Canada. But a fuming Trump insisted Reagan actually “loved tariffs” and announced he was canceling trade talks and raising duties on our northern neighbor over a “hostile act.” Even though the Canadian government had nothing to do with the ad,…

“One cat just leads to another.” Ernest Hemingway, quoted in Chron.com “It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” Erma Bombeck, quoted in The Alpena News “Since becoming a central banker, I have learned to mumble with great incoherence.” Alan Greenspan, quoted in ETF Trends “I hate when people say, ‘Hey, don’t judge,’ ’cause I think, ‘You don’t take away my hobbies.’” Marc Maron, quoted in Vulture “We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw, quoted in the Fayette, Ga., Citizen “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.”…

■ GM unveils self-driving push General Motors announced last week that it would incorporate a slew of new software programs in its vehicles over the next three years, including “a driver-assistance system that can largely control the vehicle without human interaction or monitoring,” said Michael Wayland in CNBC.com. Beginning in 2028, the GM vehicles will boast hands-free technology that can take the wheel and let drivers take their eyes off the road. GM’s system will use “lidar, or light detection and ranging, systems that allow it to better detect or ‘see’ its surroundings.” That’s an approach adopted by Google’s robocab company, Waymo, but rejected by Tesla as too expensive. GM made no secret of having Tesla in its sights. “Just be clear, we’re developing a self-driving product,” said GM chief…

Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere jumped last year by the largest amount since modern recordkeeping began in 1957, reports The Guardian (U.K.), raising fears that the planet is losing its natural ability to absorb greenhouse gases. The global average concentration of CO2 rose by 3.5 parts per million to 424 ppm, according to the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization. Methane and nitrous oxide—the second- and third-most important greenhouse gases—also hit record highs. Scientists say the jump stems partly from continued fossil fuel burning and an upsurge in wildfires, particularly in the Americas. But they are also increasingly worried that the planet’s natural carbon sinks, which absorb about half of human emissions each year, are starting to weaken. Hotter oceans are now taking in less carbon dioxide, while droughts and…

Marisa Meltzer’s latest book, It Girl, is a biography of Jane Birkin, the British-born actress and singer who became a fashion icon after relocating to France. Below, Meltzer, a Brooklyn-based author and journalist, recommends six other books for Francophiles. Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser (2001). The definitive biography of the 18th-century queen, who came to France from the Habsburg empire as a teen to be wed. It’s not a defense of Marie Antoinette, who was known for her extravagant tastes and behavior, but rather a portrait of a woman in denial of the politics swirling around her while clinging to the only life she knew. I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol (2024). MacNicol, a Canadian, spent the pandemic in a New York City studio apartment cut off…

Daniel Caesar’s new album “marks a profound act of self-acceptance,” said Ozioma Nwabuikwu in the Toronto Star. Long before the Canadian soul singer scored a No. 1 hit in 2021 as a guest vocalist on Justin Bieber’s “Peaches,” Caesar used to sleep on Toronto’s park benches to stay clear of his gospel-singer father, Norwill “Spergy” Simmonds. These days, “the R&B rebel has found peace through a newfound faith in God and in laying down arms against his family.” And after featuring prominently last year on Tyler, the Creator’s critically acclaimed Chromakopia, his new outlook is reflected in the collaborators he’s assembled here: His aunt appears on the opening track, his brother on “No More Loving,” and his father is featured in a sample on “Baby Blue.” At times, “the introspection…

Directed by Richard Linklater (R) A lively homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless “When a movie makes you want to weep, you know something is happening,” said Stephanie Zacharek in Time. Richard Linklater’s second film released in recent weeks is a tribute to Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, which means it “may end up being appreciated by only 2.6% of the general population.” But Linklater has poured great care into dramatizing the 20-day shoot in 1959 Paris that produced Godard’s New Wave masterpiece, and to watch this film’s Godard and his crew make the thing is “a particular kind of bliss.” It should inspire many viewers to create something themselves. But there’s “a major problem with Nouvelle Vague,” said Rory Doherty in The A.V. Club, and it’s that it wasn’t written as Breathless was.…

“Vanilla is the backbone of almost every American dessert,” said Sam Stone in Bon Appétit, and choosing the right one can make a difference. Recipes most often call for vanilla extract, so we blind-tested 13 brands—stirring 1 tsp into a cup of whole milk in each case—and landed on excellent options in three different price ranges. Trader Joe’s Organic Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract ($10). Our budget choice delivers “luxuriously rich flavor,” with a caramel-like base note topped by “a floral almond taste.” The “Bourbon” in the name refers to the vanilla’s island of origin. Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Extract ($20). A favorite of many of our tasters, this well-balanced mid-tier option “had a robustness and complexity that outperformed nearly all of its peers.” Heilala Pure Vanilla Extract ($32). Made from Tonga-grown…

Hunting rare apples in Maine Coastal Maine is enjoying “an apple renaissance,” said Jen Rose Smith in The Wall Street Journal. Each fall, “as leaf peepers flood the state,” the apple obsessives among them fan out to look for the oddball specimens that orchardists have cultivated for generations or recently rediscovered. At McDougal Orchards in Springvale, 16 heirloom varieties are showcased in the farm’s store, including Black Oxfords “glossy as new shoes.” And rare doesn’t mean expensive. At Bailey’s Orchard in Whitefield, varieties like Black Gilliflower are $1.35 a pound. Being “a fruit fanatic” myself, I hit the region this fall after hearing rumors of a secret, one-of-a-kind tree. I soon discovered that the apple frenzy’s happy effects have spread to the region’s top cideries and restaurants. I also went…

■ Nvidia this week became the first company to hit $5 trillion in market value, while Apple became the third to reach $4 trillion, following Nvidia and Microsoft. CNN.com ■ Car repos are up to the highest numbers since recession-racked 2009, with an estimated 1.73 million vehicles repossessed in the U.S. last year. The Wall Street Journal ■ Thanks to a tax break in President Trump’s 2025 budget bill, private jet sales are up 11% from 2024 and 30% from 2023, according to industry broker Global Charter. Bloomberg ■ Henley & Partners, a consultancy that helps rich clients acquire citizenship in attractive countries, said applications from Americans were already 67% higher through the end of September than they were for all of 2024. The Economist ■ According to a new…

The bizarre math of online dating has made women turn to hacking the system, said Rebecca Jennings in The Cut. When the dating app Hinge started, it promised it would be “the dating app designed to be deleted”—presumably when users found a life partner. But that doesn’t amount to a great business plan. So in 2020, Hinge debuted “Standouts,” a tab that collects people’s best matches and allows users to match with them only by sending a “rose.” However, users get just one rose per week, unless they pay for more, at $3.99 each. That can suggest to recipients that “you are at best a little bit desperate and at worst a person who pays real money for imaginary flowers.” A few frustrated love seekers devised a clever way out…

For more than two decades, the nonprofit Latinitas (latinitasonline.org) has been empowering Latina girls in Austin. Latin Americans constitute a third of the Central Texas workforce but make disproportionately lower incomes. The nonprofit engages youth in STEM education early on, providing technological access through its educational after-school clubs, summer camps, online coding classes, and even conferences. Latina students are also encouraged to lead local events. With federal funding canceled across the country, the nonprofit is looking to replace money for some of its programs. The nonprofit runs courses to help adults earn certifications in a range of professional skills. Most of the women participants are active job seekers balancing full-time caregiving. Another set of workshops teaches financial literacy and focuses on workforce readiness, including interview preparation. Each charity we feature…

Li Yuan The New York Times “Silicon Valley has a China envy problem,” said Li Yuan. Tech leaders are marveling at the speed at which China is building infrastructure, transforming clean energy, and advancing in artificial intelligence. “Some have called for an American DeepSeek project”—referring to the cheaper, ChatGPT-beating AI—or “published industrial manifestos full of references to China” while lamenting U.S. regulations. In this narrative, “China’s top-down, state-led system is being reframed” as a “model of efficiency and execution.” But for all its strengths, China’s economy carries enormous costs. “Behind the polished image of AI labs and high-speed railways lie stagnant wages and a frayed social safety net.” Cheap Chinese Uber rides that delight American influencers mask a growing class of rideshare drivers who are unemployed lawyers and teachers. The…

Before George Smoot’s discoveries about the origins of the universe, cosmology was a theoretical carnival, full of wild speculation and hypotheses that had very little basis in hard data. That all changed in 1992, when Smoot and his research colleague, John Mather, published a groundbreaking picture they had pieced together of how the universe looked just 389,000 years after its formation, an eyeblink in cosmological time. The team measured the cosmic microwave background radiation using data collected by the Cosmic Background Explorer, a satellite carrying instruments Smoot and Mather had developed. The data confirmed that there were minuscule variations in temperature across the universe from shortly after the Big Bang. That meant that the hot and dense early universe could form primordial clumps that eventually became stars and galaxies. The…

Drew Struzan made us want to go to the movies, managing to capture in a still image the dash and drama of an action film. He designed over 200 movie posters, including for seven Star Wars films, the Back to the Future trilogy, and E.T. His airbrushed acrylic composites gave stars such a lovely, stained-glass glow that Steven Spielberg actually told the cinematographer of the Indiana Jones films to make Harrison Ford look as good as he did in the poster. Struzan said the images had to stand alone. “Telling the story in a poster is wrong,” he said. “I’m looking to give a person a feeling about something they could hope for.” Born in Oregon and raised in Northern California, Struzan “never felt loved by his parents,” said The…