Home//The Week Magazine/May 27, 2016/In This Issue
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Editor’s letterVladimir Putin is a thug. On this, I suspect, most people outside his country’s borders would agree. In recent years, Russia’s new czar has started a new Cold War, invaded and annexed Crimea, ignited a civil war in Ukraine, and propped up a genocidal dictator in Syria. At home, journalists and opposition leaders who’ve dared to criticize Putin have been beaten, jailed, shot, and poisoned. Now we’ve learned the lying dictator even rigged the Olympic Games in Sochi, turbocharging his athletes with steroids and substituting clean urine for their tainted samples. (See Talking Points.) In a great irony, Putin has exploited the West’s tradition of free speech by funding a TV network, RT—formerly called Russia Today—here and in Europe, spewing out a steady stream of pro-Russian, anti-American propaganda. (See The…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Democratic race takes a bitter turnWhat happenedA deepening rift threatened Democratic Party unity in the general election this week as Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders split primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, and Sanders and his supporters charged that the party has cheated them out of delegates and favored Clinton in the bruising race. In the Bluegrass State, Clinton eked out a half-point victory with nearly 47 percent of the vote; Sanders won 56-44 in Oregon. By nearly splitting the day’s delegate haul with Sanders, Clinton came within just 92 delegates of the total needed for the nomination, including superdelegates pledged to her. Sanders vowed to fight “until the last ballot is cast,” insisting he’d be the stronger candidate in November.The frustration of Sanders’ supporters boiled over at Nevada’s Democratic Party convention last week. Arguing…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The U.S. at a glanceCoronado, Calif.Navy training tragedy: A Navy SEAL instructor was temporarily removed from duty this week after a 21-yearold sailor died in an underwater exercise during the notoriously grueling first week of SEAL training at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in California. According to reports, seaman James Derek Lovelace was trying to complete a difficult drill known as the “combat tread”—students tread water in camouflage uniforms while instructors grab at them underwater— when he passed out. Unnamed sources, including two family members of SEAL students, told NBC News and the Virginian-Pilot that the instructor had held Lovelace underwater before he lost consciousness. Lovelace was taken to a San Diego hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The drill, part of the infamous Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL course, was reportedly captured on video, and the…4 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016GossipControversy swirled around Woody Allen at the Cannes Film Festival in France this week, amid renewed allegations that he molested his now 30-year-old daughter, Dylan, when she was 7. “I think he sexually assaulted a child and I don’t think that’s right,” actress Susan Sarandon said at the glitzy annual event, where the director appeared for the opening of his film CaféSociety. “I have nothing good to say about him.” Her comments came in the wake of a scathing essay in the Hollywood Reporter by Allen’s son Ronan Farrow, 28, who condemned the movie establishment for embracing his father and effectively condoning the alleged abuse—which Allen, 80, vehemently denies. “That kind of silence isn’t just wrong, it’s dangerous,” Farrow said. “It sends a message to victims that it’s not worth…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Best columns: The U.S.Bill Clinton is no economic saviorKevin WilliamsonNationalReview.com“The most enduring and destructive superstition about American politics is that the president is ‘in charge of’ the economy,” said Kevin Williamson. But since this “poppyco*ck” is so widely believed, Hillary Clinton has announced that she will put her husband “in charge of revitalizing the economy.” Now, it is true that “the U.S. economy performed to general satisfaction during Bill Clinton’s presidency,” with GDP growth averaging 3.8 percent over eight years. But the boom that fueled this growth was largely driven by factors out of Clinton’s control, particularly the emergence of the internet and a dot-com stock bubble. By the end of his term, that stock bubble was bursting and GDP growth was plunging. Clinton was also helped by congressional Republicans, who vigorously fought…3 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Europe: Was Eurovision rigged against Russia?Ukraine has won a “moral and symbolic victory,” said Natalia Baluk in Vysokyi Zamok(Ukraine). Sure, the annual Eurovision Song Contest is just a kitschy pop-music competition, albeit one watched by some 180 million viewers from Iceland to Azerbaijan. But when Ukrainian singer Jamala won the contest last week, beating the odds-on favorite, Russian heartthrob Sergey Lazarev, it gave our traumatized nation a desperately needed psychological boost. The sense of optimism that followed the 2014 overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych, a Kremlin stooge, was quickly shattered by Russia’s “bloody aggression” in eastern Ukraine and its humiliating annexation of Crimea. Jamala—the stage name of the conservatory-trained Crimean Tatar opera singer Susana Jamaladinova—has taken our pain and channeled it in the wrenching song “1944,” about her own family’s past. The title refers to…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016NotedPresident Obama came into office pledging to end the wars of his predecessor, but if the U.S. remains at war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria until the end of his term, Obama will be the only president in American history to serve two complete terms with the nation at war.The New York Times Online dictionary searches for the word “transgender” have spiked 630 percent recently, according to Merriam-Webster.WashingtonPost.com Emma Morano of Verbania, Italy, 116, has become the oldest woman in the world, after the death of Susannah Mushatt Jones of New York City, who was also 116. Morano attributes her long life span to her decision to leave an unhappy marriage to a dominating man in 1938. She may be the last living person on Earth born in the 19th…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Harvard: The crackdown on single-sex clubsHarvard has just “declared war on Greek life,” said Lizzie Crocker in TheDailyBeast.com. Starting with the class of 2021, the university will punish members of single-sex fraternities, sororities, and semisecret societies known as “final clubs” by denying them student leadership positions and banning them from applying for fellowships like the Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships. “The reason for the crackdown is simple,” said Dylan Matthews in Vox.com. Harvard concluded that the single-sex groups—particularly elitist all-male final clubs like The Fly and the Delphic—“are major contributors to sexual violence on campus.” About 47 percent of female seniors who participated in final club activities reported nonconsensual sexual contact. As I saw myself while attending Harvard, final club parties are wild, lavish affairs in which alcohol, cocaine, and freshmen girls are brought in for…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Transportation: The ‘hyperloop’ speeds ahead“Who’s ready to board a tube to shoot you at 700 mph from Los Angeles to San Francisco” in as little as 30 minutes? asked Jefferson Graham in USA Today. Last week, in the desert north of Las Vegas, engineers working on Hyperloop One conducted the first public test of a futuristic transportation system dreamed up by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. As proposed, the hyperloop would use levitating magnetic pods propelled through giant vacuum tubes to whoosh passengers and cargo for hundreds of miles near the speed of sound. Since Musk first floated the idea in 2013, a handful of startups have been racing to achieve his vision, with millions of dollars pouring in from investors.Hyperloop One’s inaugural test wasn’t exactly spectacular, said Ryan Bradley in MIT Technology Review. After…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Health & ScienceDoubling the exoplanet populationIf the universe suddenly seems a little more crowded, it’s because NASA’s Kepler space telescope last week confirmed the existence of 1,284 newfound planets orbiting distant stars, more than doubling the number discovered since the mission was launched in 2009. These alien worlds include roughly 550 planets that could be rocky and Earth-like, nine of which orbit in their star’s “Goldilocks zone”—the sweet spot where conditions would theoretically be suitable for liquid water and life. All told, Kepler has now confirmed 21 potentially habitable planets. Astronomers have yet to find a dead ringer for Earth, but after extrapolating their findings to the entire galaxy, they calculate there may be tens of billions of Earth-size exoplanets with the right conditions to support life; the closest of these could…5 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Author of the weekJustin SchmidtJustin Schmidt “has a way with words when it comes to pain,” said the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Pennsylvaniaborn entomologist is famous for developing a rating system for the agony inflicted by various stinging insects and for adding descriptions that would make a wine critic proud. Here he is on the bald-faced hornet’s particular brand of pain: “Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand smashed in a revolving door.” And on the sting of the Eastern yellow jacket: “Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.” Schmidt, who has finally published the complete Schmidt Sting Pain Index in a new book, The Sting of the Wild, turns out to be a tough grader—awarding only a few insects the highest score…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The Week’ s guide to what’s worth watchingMygrationsYou’ll wonder how hom*o sapiens ever made it out of Africa’s grasslands. In this documentary series, 20 Americans possessed with useful knowledge and skills band together in a human herd to see if they can survive the same 200-mile trek that wildebeests make each year across the Serengeti. No compass guides the team, and four-legged predators wait in the same tree groves the vulnerable bipeds look to for shelter. The whole experience makes Survivor seem about as dangerous as a group date on The Bachelor. Monday, May 23, at 9 p.m., National Geographic ChannelFrontline: Business of DisasterIt wasn’t bad enough that Hurricane Sandy laid waste to the mid-Atlantic coast. For many victims, the days and years that followed were painful, too, as government agencies and insurance companies shortchanged them. In…3 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Recipe of the week“Here is the good and bad news about fava beans,” said David Tanis in The New York Times. The bad is that the beans have to be shucked from their pods, and usually peeled individually. The good news: They’re “exquisitely delicious.” It’s “a labor of love” to prepare enough beans for two cups of this simple spread. Serve it on toasted baguette rounds and you’ll have the “perfect” spring appetizer.Mashed fava bean toasts5 lbs fava beans in the pod • extra-virgin olive oil • salt and pepper • 4 cloves garlic, minced • pinch of crushed red pepper • ½ tsp freshly chopped rosemary • 1 baguette, thinly sliced • coarse sea salt (optional)• Shuck fava beans from their pods. Drop the beans in boiling water for 1 minute, then…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Hotel of the weekDrury Plaza HotelClevelandA stay at this new 189-room property can also be “an overnight education in historic preservation,” said Susan Glaser in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Midwest’s first Drury Plaza hotel occupies a majestic neoclassical building that was home to the Cleveland Board of Education for 70-plus years. Just in time for the Republican Party’s July convention, a $52 million renovation has restored many of the building’s stately features, including a two-story marblelined lobby and its pair of Depression-era murals. The Teachers Lounge, an on-site restaurant, opens soon. druryhotels.com; doubles from $170…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016ConsumerThe 2016 BMW M2: What the critics sayNew York Daily NewsA throwback to BMWs of old, the new M2 “fixes everything that is wrong” with its blander or bulkier lineup siblings. A muscular but lithe compact coupe, it pairs a powerful straight-six engine with an optional six-speed manual transmission and a beautifully tuned chassis. “Infinitely better” in corners than the M235i that it’s derived from, the M2 is “an absolute joy to drive at the limit,” and at a price under $52,000, it’s “almost a steal in the performance world.”AutoweekThere are rear-wheel-drive performance coupes out there that “offer more character and fun.” This car’s manual shifter feels “a little rubbery,” and the turbocharged 365-hp engine doesn’t sound as good as, say, a Camaro SS. Still, the M2 is now “the…4 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Banks: Hackers attack Swift network“Thieves have again found their way into what was thought to be the most secure financial-messaging system in the world,” said Michael Corkery in The New York Times.Swift, which is used by thousands of banks to move money and authorize payments, revealed last week that hackers used its service to try to steal $1.1 million from a bank in Vietnam. The attack, which was ultimately foiled, is thought to be related to February’s daring $81 million heist from an account belonging to the Bangladesh central bank, in which “attackers were able to compel the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to move money to accounts in the Philippines.” In both attacks, hackers somehow obtained Swift passwords to initiate fraudulent transfers, using sophisticated malware to cover their tracks.Bankers are now pressing…3 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016What the experts sayGoogle spurns payday loansGoogle is banning ads from payday lenders, saying it hopes “fewer people will be exposed to misleading or harmful” financial products, said Andrea Peterson and Jonnelle Marte in The Washington Post. Beginning July 13, paid ads from the payday loan industry will no longer appear on the top or right side of search results. This is the first time Google has banned a category of financial products, having until now mostly prohibited ads “for largely illicit activities such as selling guns, explosives, and drugs.” The search giant has been under increasing pressure from consumer advocates, who accuse payday lenders of exploiting the poor and vulnerable. About 40 percent of the roughly $40 billion in loans issued by payday lenders in 2015 happened online, where borrowers pay an…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Issue of the week: An online lending star stumbles“Remember when peer-to-peer lending was supposed to be the antidote to the financial sector’s shady practices?” asked Jonathan Ford in the Financial Times. In the years since the financial crisis, online lenders have been relentlessly hyped as the future of better banking, offering more transparency and faster, cheaper loans by directly connecting borrowers with investors through technology. For a while, this Silicon Valley approach helped fuel blistering growth in the sector. But now the biggest and bestknown online lender is embroiled in a controversy “that would not have looked out of place on pre-crisis Wall Street.” Renaud Laplanche, the charismatic founder and CEO of LendingClub, was forced to resign last week over revelations that his company had “improperly sold” millions of dollars’ worth of loans to an investor. Laplanche also…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The adman who taught the world to singBill Backer 1926-2016Bill Backer came up with some of the catchiest advertising slogans and jingles of the 20th century. He coined phrases like “Miller Time” and “Things go better with co*ke,” and boosted Campbell’s brand by proclaiming, “Soup is good food.” But the adman’s most famous creation was a 1971 TV ad in which a multicultural chorus on a hilltop sang, “I’d like to buy the world a co*ke and keep it company.” The feelgood commercial was shown around the planet, and the spin-off song, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony)” became a hit for the New Seekers. The ad was a success, Backer said, because “it’s not phony. The product itself is a product that brings people together.”Born to a wealthy Manhattan family, Backer…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The Puzzle PageCrossword No. 361: Space OddityACROSS1 Sprint5 Try to tempt9 Its current president is Cornell William Brooks14 Unproductive15 43,560 square feet16 “Go me!”17 Frequently20 10-10, say21 ___ out the win22 Location of the U.N.’s HQ23 Steinem cause24 Parapsychologist’s study25 What a journalist may bury27 Posh L.A. neighborhood29 Made money off, perhaps31 Rocket until 201133 Recorded, in a way34 Inflict upon35 Eleventh-greatest baseball player of all time, per ESPN37 Not that frequently40 Foster pair41 Make noise, in a way43 Hero46 Couple47 Instill confidence in49 They’re three times the size of trios51 Country whose currency is the nuevo sol53 Piglet’s mom54 Carrier founded in 192555 Tease57 Michelle ou Pierre, par exemple58 Director Roth59 Very infrequently, like the rare event that occurs on May 21— and then not again until May 201963 Black, in…3 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016GOP defends Trump against new revelationsWhat happenedThe Republican Party began reluctantly coalescing around Donald Trump as its presumptive nominee this week, despite a slew of unflattering stories about the businessman’s past behavior. The Washington Post revealed that Trump used to masquerade as his own publicist, using the pseudonyms “John Miller” and “John Barron” to feed reporters stories and quotes about his sexual and business prowess. In an audio recording of a 1991 phone call, “Miller”—who sounds uncannily like Trump—told a reporter the businessman was fending off attention from Madonna and other women, and doing “tremendously well financially.” Trump last week flatly denied that it was his voice, even though he’s previously admitted twice that he sometimes posed as spokesmen named Miller and Barron. Two days later, The New York Times published an in-depth report on…3 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Anger mounts at TSA over airport security chaosWhat happenedPassengers, airlines, and lawmakers were in an uproar against the Transportation Security Administration this week as hours-long airport security lines continued to cause thousands of people around the country to miss their flights—including 450 passengers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport in a single night. At O’Hare, security lines were as long as two and a half hours, and American Airlines said at least 6,800 of its passengers missed their flights in March because of delays at TSA checkpoints. Congress has approved $34 million to hire another 768 screening officers, but airlines are predicting a record number of travelers in the coming months. “This is going to be a rough summer,” said TSA Chief of Operations Gary Rasicot.The marathon lines have prompted airports in Atlanta, New York City, and Seattle to…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The world at a glanceRomeSopranos star robbed: An Italian paramedic is on trial for allegedly stealing a gold Rolex watch from American actor James Gandolfini as he lay dying. Stretcher-bearer Claudio Bevilacqua, 43, was part of the paramedic team called to a Rome hotel in 2013 after the Sopranos star collapsed there following a massive heart attack. Prosecutors said they weren’t sure whether Bevilacqua swiped the $3,000 Submariner watch from Gandolfini’s wrist as other medics battled to revive the actor, or picked it up from his hotel room. Gandolfini, who was in Italy on a family vacation, was pronounced dead 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital. Bevilacqua’s trial has been adjourned until November. Italian court cases move notoriously slowly.Fort McMurray, AlbertaWildfire hits oil industry: A shift in the wind has brought a massive,…7 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Rigging elections, the legal wayWhat is gerrymandering?It’s a tactic used by political parties to redraw voting districts to give themselves an electoral advantage. Whether Republicans or Democrats control the process in a given state, the trick is to create irregularly shaped districts that segregate as many of the opposition’s supporters as possible into a small handful of seats—leaving their own candidates with a much better chance of winning everywhere else. To simplify, in a state with 100,000 Democratic and 100,000 Republican voters and six districts, a GOP legislature would group 80,000 Democrats into two districts. That would leave just 20,000 Democrats spread over the other four districts, which the GOP could then easily win. This process has left most states with oddly shaped districts, often with strips of land jutting out in several directions.…4 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016It must be true... I read it in the tabloidsA mother goose turned to Cincinnati police for help last week when one of her goslings got tangled up in string. Officer James Givens was sitting in his police cruiser near a city creek when the distraught bird started tapping at the door with its beak. “It kept pecking,” he said. “Normally they don’t come near us.” Curious, Givens got out of the car, and the bird led him to a gosling that was tied up in a discarded balloon string. Givens’ partner carefully untangled the baby bird, which ran off to rejoin its happily honking mom. Serena Williams made herself ill by sampling her Yorkshire terrier’s luxury pet food, just hours before she was due to play in the Italian Open. The tennis star was staying at a posh…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Best columns: InternationalCANADAWe don’t need a first ladyLorne GunterThe Edmonton SunThe wife of our prime minister is at it again, said Lorne Gunter. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau already appalled the nation with her demand for two nannies to help care for her three children at taxpayer expense—even though she doesn’t have a job. Now, she wants a second personal assistant as well. It seems that when she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the White House last March, “the one thing she came away with was a big-time envy of Michelle Obama,” who as first lady has a staff of 22. Grégoire Trudeau is claiming that she has been “overwhelmed with requests for personal appearances and endorsem*nts.” To hear her tell it, she’s just “so gosh dang popular and working so awfully hard…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Olympic doping: Should Russia be banned?Russia has made a mockery of the Olympics, said The Washington Postin an editorial. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of the country’s anti-doping agency who has fled to the U.S., last week revealed that he and other officials “clandestinely carried out a doping program” at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, to ensure that host Russia dominated the competition. Rodchenkov’s team fed Russian athletes steroids to boost strength and endurance, and later swapped their tainted urine samples for clean ones. To pull off that brazen scam, Russian technicians and security service agents worked nights “in a shadow laboratory lit by a single lamp,” passing bottles “through a small hole in the wall.” The cloak-and-dagger operation is typical of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a moral vacuum where lies pass for truth, his…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Wit & Wisdom“Virtue would not go far without vanity to escort her.”François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, quoted in Lapham’s Quarterly“Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust: Hatred alone is immortal.”William Hazlitt, quoted in The New Republic“Without data you are another person with an opinion.”Management guru Edwards Deming, quoted in The Washington Post“Life’s ultimate statistic is the same for all people: One out of one dies.”George Bernard Shaw, quoted in the Sanford, N.C., Herald“You are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. [It’s] like a muscle; you can build it up.”Sheryl Sandberg, quoted in The Boston Globe“Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.”Broadcasting pioneer David Sarnoff, quoted in The Wall Street Journal“Elegance is not about being noticed, it’s about being remembered.”Giorgio Armani, quoted in…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Innovation of the weekFor most people, their wireless internet router is something that’s out of sight, out of mind, said Katherine Boehret in TheVerge.com. Starry Station, a sleek, white triangular router, is “meant to be seen rather than buried behind the couch or tucked under a desk.” And its appeal isn’t just aesthetic: The router gives users an at-a-glance picture of how their Wi-Fi network is performing, showing how many devices are online and how much data they’re eating up, represented by floating, color-coded dots (blue for healthy, red for problematic). Multiple built-in antennas also give the router a longer, more powerful range. In tests, download speeds were 20 times faster than with a standard cable-company-provided router. Retailing for $350, the router also comes with a built-in microphone and speaker, so in the…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Review of reviews: BooksBook of the weekValiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolutionby Nathaniel Philbrick(Viking, $30)Nathaniel Philbrick has written “one of the greatest what-if books of the age— a volume that turns one of America’s best-known narratives on its head,” said David Shribman in The Boston Globe. In Philbrick’s fresh look at a crucial chapter in our nation’s founding, Benedict Arnold emerges not as merely a vanquished traitor but also as the man who, in dramatically betraying the cause of independence, did more than anyone to unify the fractious colonists and steel them for a push to victory. The Arnold we meet here is a more electrifying figure than George Washington. Whereas Washington was indecisive on the battlefield, the charismatic Arnold was a dashing risk-taker who won…5 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Review of reviews: Art & FilmExhibit of the weekNicole Eisenman: Al-ugh-oriesNew Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, through June 26For the past 20 years, Nicole Eisenman has mounted “a kind of one-woman insurgency” against painterly conventions, said Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker. Since she made a splash in the 1995 Whitney Biennial—with a 30-foot-long mural that depicted the museum “blasted to ruins”—Eisenman has been a true original. Her paintings tell stories that “look bumptiously jokey at first, but reveal worlds of nuanced thought and feeling.” Some images celebrate bohemian eccentricity; elsewhere, she comments acidly on the 2008 global financial crisis. The 51-yearold MacArthur “genius” grant winner also touches on the theme of sexuality repeatedly, “almost to the extent of a civic duty.” But Eisenman, who is gay, couldn’t be categorized as a spokeswoman…4 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Show of the weekChef’s TableYou won’t find any screaming chefs in this stimulating docuseries created by filmmaker David Gelb. Each episode is a beguiling portrait of a world-class talent as artfully composed as any plate that might leave his or her kitchen. The second season will add six installments, including a journey into the Amazon jungle with Brazilian chef Alex Atala and a tour of Bangkok with India’s top chef, Gaggan Anand. In the series’ stop in San Francisco, Dominique Crenn shares what it’s like to open one’s dream restaurant— and then to not stop dreaming. Available for streaming Friday, May 27, Netflix…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Mezcal: Tequila’s supple cousin“Mezcal has come a long way in a very short time,” said Rachel Signer in FoodRepublic.com. Unknown in the U.S. 30 years ago, the agave-based spirit is now widely treasured, as drinkers have come to appreciate its smoky subtleties. Unlike tequila, produced from a workhorse variety of agave called espadín, mezcals can be made from a variety of agaves that, “much like wine grapes, look and taste unique.”El Jolgorio Tobalá ($115). Sip this one slowly, because tobalá is a wild agave that takes 25 years to mature.Mezcal Vago Ensemble en Barro ($75). An agave called coyote flavors this mezcal, which is “citrusy and a bit nutty, with a robust palate hinting of cinnamon and earth.”Del Maguey Espadín Especial ($95). This is a “particularly elevated” espadín from a 2016 James Beard…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Getting the flavor ofAirbus’ jet-lag-fighting plane“Jet lag is as integral to international travel as long lines at passport control,” said Christopher Muther in The Boston Globe. So I felt skeptical when I heard that Airbus’ new A350 XWB airliner had been designed to reduce the fatigue that usually follows a long-haul flight. The plane’s engines are quieter. The cabin’s advanced LED lights mimic the changes in natural light occurring at the plane’s destination—helping to reset your body clock. Fresh air is filtered in every few minutes. And a powerful humidifier combats dryness. When I recently flew from Boston to Doha and back on one of Qatar Airways’ new A350s, “I didn’t exactly feel refreshed, but I didn’t feel haggard,” and suffered nothing like the “jackhammer” headaches I’m used to. Jet lag is impossible…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Law firms turn to robo-lawyersMore bad news for law school grads who have encountered a grim job market: A robot has officially been hired by one of the country’s biggest firms, said Karen Turner in The Washington Post. BakerHostetler, which employs 900 human lawyers, has become the first law firm to publicly welcome ROSS— marketed as “the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney.” The software will work in BakerHostetler’s bankruptcy practice “sifting through thousands of legal documents to bolster the firm’s cases”— a job that would have normally been filled by “fresh-out-of-school lawyers.” ROSS is part of a boom in legal assistance startups, like Lex Machina’s Legal, which mines public court documents to predict how a judge will rule. ROSS’s creators say the bot isn’t meant to replace human lawyers, but to help them. “Our…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Charity of the weekFor nearly a century, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (whoi.edu) has been dedicated to advancing the world’s understanding of our oceans through research and education. As the largest nonprofit oceanographic research institution in the world, the organization uses its findings to shape public policy and environmental sustainability. The Cape Cod, Mass., campus has 1,100 employees and hundreds of affiliated students and researchers collecting data from oceans around the globe on their two research vessels and conducting experiments in the facility’s labs. The organization’s famed submersible Alvin can reach depths of 2.8 miles, allowing scientists an up close view of two-thirds of the ocean floor.Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator, which rates not-for-profit organizations on the strength of their finances, their governance practices, and…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The self-help guru who embraced the ‘inner child’John Bradshaw 1933-2016John Bradshaw believed that we could all conquer our emotional ills as long as we found our “inner child”—the youthful, unsullied spirit buried under layers of bruising experience. Charismatic and theatrical, the selfhelp evangelist dispensed a mix of psychology, philosophy, and theology in motivational workshops that resembled tent revival meetings. At his coaxing, participants would recall their childhood traumas— sometimes while clutching stuffed toys. The exercises invariably ended in cathartic tears. A best-selling author, Bradshaw popularized terms such as “the dysfunctional family” and “toxic shame,” and drew on his own childhood traumas and battles with alcohol. “Therapists are like the Wizard of Oz,” he said. “Pull back the curtain and you find we are frightened and scared, too.”Born in Houston, Bradshaw grew up in poverty, the son of…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016It wasn’t all badDonald Gould became an internet sensation last year after a video of the homeless Sarasota, Fla., man playing Styx’s “Come Sail Away” on piano went viral. An outpouring of support followed, helping Gould secure housing, go through rehab, reunite with his son, and get a regular bar gig. Now, the talented pianist has signed a recording contract, and his first single will be a cover of his favorite Styx tune. “The odds of me winning $100 million playing the Lotto are better than something like this happening,” Gould said. “You should always dream big.”Britain’s Prince Harry was left stunned this week when he handed a gold medal to an American swimmer at the Invictus Games, only for her to give it straight back. Sgt. Elizabeth Marks, a 25-year-old military medic,…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Bathroom wars: Has Obama gone too far?“You may not have realized it yet,” said David French in NationalReview.com, “but the Obama administration just destroyed the traditional American public school.” In typical imperial fashion, President Obama last week had his flunkies at the Department of Justice and the Department of Education send a letter to every school district in the country, warning them that students who claim to be transgender must now legally be treated as members of the gender they identify with. That means boys who say that they’re girls can now play on girls’ sports teams, room with girls on field trips, and have access to girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms. We all remember Obama’s promise to “fundamentally transform” America, said Cal Thomas in FoxNews.com. But who knew he had in mind a nation where…5 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016PeopleTrump’s white supremacist admirerWilliam Johnson is thrilled by the rise of Donald Trump, said Josh Harkinson in MotherJones.com. The head of the Amer i can Free dom Party, Johnson is a white nationalist who has spent the past 30 years on the fringes of American politics, promoting the “political interests” of the white race and the deportation of all Hispanics, Asians, Jews, and blacks. But with Trump becoming the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, Johnson says, his extremist views are no longer beyond the pale. “For many, many years, when I would say these things, other white people would call me names: ‘Oh, you’re a hatemonger, you’re a Nazi, you’re like Hitler.’ Now they come in and say, ‘Oh, you’re like Donald Trump.’” Johnson, 61, a corporate lawyer who…3 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Making the map redWhen gerrymandering districts, political cartographers are no longer limited to demographic data from the U.S. census. They can now purchase vast databases from companies like Facebook and Amazon, and find out exactly what people in a certain area are buying, or reading, or thinking. When this information is combined with previous election results and census data—on categories such as gender, race, and religion—it provides a highly reliable picture of how an area is most likely to vote. With advanced mapmaking software, it is then very easy for redistricting officials to create boundary lines that offer their party the maximum possible advantage. If they move a city block from one district to another, for example, it’ll tell them the likely effect on all the surrounding districts. As journalist David Daley puts…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Best columns: EuropeSWEDENDon’t allow Muslims to shun womenEditorialExpressenSweden is struggling with its newfound multiculturalism, said Expressen. While Muslims make up only 4 percent of the population, their requests for accommodations are testing all of society. Politician Yasri Khan was forced to resign from the Green Party last month after he refused to shake hands with a female reporter. He bowed his head and placed his hand on his heart instead, saying the gesture was a respectful greeting. Some Swedish politicians supported him, but his Green colleagues were outraged. This month, Culture Minister Alice Bah Kuhnke refused a request from an Islamic group for segregated swimming times for Muslim girls at public pools. Again, Swedish leaders were divided on the issue—and the opinions don’t break along clear lines like left versus right or…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Brazil: Fury and glee over the president’s oustingBrazilians have struck a blow against corruption, said Alexandre Schwartsman in Folha de São Paulo(Brazil). Lawmakers have just impeached President Dilma Rousseff, who will stand trial for allegedly manipulating the government’s accounts. It’s cause for celebration across the country, since her free-spending leftist government was “the worst in history,” managing to take a robust economy “and demolish it in just four years.” But don’t blame Rousseff alone, said Estadão(Brazil) in an editorial. Her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, laid the Workers Party on its “trajectory of inconsistency, corruption, and deception.” After serving two terms as president, he wanted to keep ruling, so he picked his protégée Rousseff to be his puppet. “But behold, as in every horror movie, the creature decided to think on its own.” Rousseff began to…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Sykes-Picot: The map that made the Mideast“Exactly a century ago, an Englishman and a Frenchman unrolled a map of the Middle East and drew an improbably straight line across the desert,” said David Blair in The Daily Telegraph (U.K.). The two diplomats, Sir Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot, were deciding how to split up the Ottoman Empire during World War I into British and French spheres of influence. With all the breezy arrogance of a colonial official, Sykes declared, “I should like to draw a line from the E in Acre to the last K in Kirkuk.” Ignoring the region’s “explosive ethnic and religious divides,” he did just that, carving out the entirely artificial nations of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. A century later, “the curse of Sykes-Picot still haunts the Middle East,” said Robin Wright in…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Trump’s taxes: A ‘ticking time bomb’?“What is Donald Trump trying to hide in his tax returns?” asked David Graham in TheAtlantic.com. The presumptive Republican nominee insisted again this week that he cannot make those documents public because of an ongoing IRS audit of several years’ worth of returns, and that the process just might continue until after the general election. Yet taxpayers are free to release returns when they’re under audit; Richard Nixon did exactly that in 1973. All Republican and Democratic nominees since 1976 have released their returns, so why won’t Trump—usually so proud of his wealth—do the same? As former GOP nominee Mitt Romney said last week, the only “logical explanation” for Trump’s intransigence is that his returns contain some form of “bombshell.”This issue is definitely a “ticking time bomb for the GOP,”…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Bytes: What’s new in techAmazon wants your videosAmazon is taking on YouTube, said Spencer Soper in Bloomberg.com. The e-commerce giant already offers on-demand movies and TV shows through Amazon Prime; now it’s going to let anyone post professionally made videos to its website. The only requirements are that videos be high-definition, with closedcaptioning for the hearing impaired. Similar to YouTube, creators will be able to earn money from advertising by making their videos available to all Amazon users. Or they can earn royalty payments by offering videos only to Amazon Prime members. Creators will also have the option to sell or rent their videos directly to Amazon customers. Amazon has used a similar strategy for e-books, allowing authors to bypass traditional publishers.Siri’s smarter little sisterThe creators of Apple’s Siri are working on an even…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The Book ListBest books...chosen by Sherman AlexieNovelist, poet, and short-story writer Sherman Alexie is the award-winning author of Reservation Blues, War Dances, and The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian. His first picture book, Thunder Boy Jr., has just been published by Little, Brown.Where Did You Sleep Last Night? by Danzy Senna (Picador, $19). This is a memoir about a diverse, artistically accomplished, and incredibly mysterious family. Senna, who was abandoned in childhood by her black father and raised by her white mother, tells the story of her father and his unknown, unknowable origins. I am amazed by her empathy for him.Wild Hundreds by Nate Marshall (Univ. of Pittsburgh, $16). Funny, violent, beautiful, and aching for redemption: These are the poems of a 21st-century African-American man who’s immersed equally in academic…4 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Movies on TVMonday, May 23Total RecallA construction worker’s dreams become a gateway to recovered memories of a past life on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in a taut sci-fi thriller from director Paul Verhoeven. (1990) 8 p.m., EncoreTuesday, May 24SleeperWoody Allen plays a humble health-food retailer who wakes up in the future after a 200-year cryogenic sleep. (1973) 8 p.m., TCMWednesday, May 25DaveA presidential impersonator is elevated to the Oval Office when the real commander in chief suffers a stroke. Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver co-star. (1993) 10:15 p.m., EncoreThursday, May 26The Nutty ProfessorLong before Eddie Murphy engineered a hit remake, Jerry Lewis played a nerdy lab scientist and his skirt-chasing alter ego to screwball perfection. (1963) 4:35 p.m., MovieplexFriday, May 27Suddenly, Last SummerA gothic drama so kooky, most of the talent washed…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Critics’ choice: Restaurants that satisfy our primal appetitesRoister Chicago“Plate artistry is not among Andrew Brochu’s priorities,” said Phil Vettel in the Chicago Tribune. Order something called the dark and stormy pork butt from the chef’s kitchen at Roister and you’ll get a delicious, rum-and-ginger-beer-glazed meat pile that “looks like it was dropped from a great height.” How to describe this place? “Messy. Noisy. Primal.” As music cranks, comfort food of a meat-heavy sort issues from the restaurant’s beating heart—a massive flaming open hearth. A tasting menu is served at a counter facing the hearth, but à la carte is the way to go. Start with the cheese rillettes, a riff on the meat pâté. Move on to the “beef broth,” which is actually a version of the Creole dish yaka mein: beef cheek and tongue, along with…3 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016This week’s dream: The Canary Islands, for the world’s best stargazingFar out in the Atlantic Ocean, on a few specks of land off Africa’s northwestern coast, the nights are as “dark as prehistory,” said Nina Burleigh in The New York Times. When the sun sets on the volcanic Canary Islands, “every ray of visible starlight in the entire Northern Hemisphere and much of the Southern Hemisphere gathers overhead.” Those stunning skies have led astronomers to install some of the world’s most powerful telescopes on the Spanish territory’s volcanic peaks. Far below, tens of thousands of drunken tourists party at beach resorts on Tenerife, its largest island. Most are unaware that the archipelago has three UNESCO-sanctioned Starlight Reserves: prime star-watching sites where protections have been established against light pollution. Only a few tourists make the twisting, twohour ascent to the giant,…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Last-minute travel dealsRocky Mountain adventureVisit Vail, Colo., during the off-season this summer and enjoy hiking, biking, and horseback riding. A number of hotels in town are offering up to 30 percent off accommodations through Nov. 17. Book by June 1.vail.comExplore East AsiaSave up to $300 on a 10-day tour of Japan and China with stays in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Beijing. Starting at $4,099 a person, the package includes lodging, guided tours, and round-trip airfare from select U.S. cities. Book by May 31.pacificdelighttours.comParadise in JamaicaEnjoy a 45 percent discount when you stay at Jamaica’s Jewel Paradise Cove, an adultsonly oceanfront resort and spa. Rooms start at $145 a person, per night, including food and drink. Book by May 31 for travel through Jan. 1, 2017.jewelresorts.com…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The bottom lineChinese nationals have become the largest foreign buyers of U.S. property, investing at least $110 billion over the past five years, according to a study by the Asia Society and the Rosen Consulting Group. The report’s authors say the total for the second half of this decade is likely to be double that: $218 billion.The Guardian Nearly 20 percent of Americans 65 and older are currently working, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the largest share of older people with a job since the early 1960s, before the U.S. enacted Medicare.Bloomberg.com Next year, the Philadelphia 76ers will become the first major American professional sports team to feature advertising on its jerseys, sporting a patch with the logo of StubHub, the eBay-owned ticket-sales site. The basketball team inked…1 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Payment tech: The trouble with ‘chip’ cards“When it comes to updating the way we pay, the U.S. still has a ways to go,” said Olivia Lowenberg in CSMonitor.com. Last year, in a bid to combat fraud, the payments industry finally began to transition from old-fashioned cards with magnetic strips to more secure ones with tiny embedded computer chips— technology that Europe has used widely for decades. The rollout, which involves updating more than 10 million card terminals and replacing 1.2 billion cards, is taking longer than expected and causing plenty of shopper frustration. Now comes a further complication: Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, filed suit against Visa last week, claiming Visa has been trying to force it to use a less secure variation of the chip-card system to generate more profit.At issue is the use of…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016Best columns: BusinessMoving money to make moneyRana ForooharFinancial Times“The business of corporate America is no longer business— it is finance,” said Rana Foroohar. Companies are increasingly focused on profiting not by investing in improvements to their products and services, but simply by moving money around. Apple, which has $200 billion in cash, has borrowed billions of dollars in recent years to buy back its own shares in order to boost the company’s stock price. “Why borrow?” Because it’s cheaper than repatriating profits and paying U.S. taxes. And Apple isn’t alone “in eschewing real engineering for the financial kind.” Airlines now make more money hedging oil prices than selling seats, even though the strategy increases global commodities volatility. Pharmaceutical companies— which have cut nearly 150,000 jobs since 2008, mostly in research and development—are…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016The lawyer who saw conspiracy in JFK’s murderMark Lane 1927-2016Mark Lane never bought the official story on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After the president was shot to death in Dallas in 1963, the New York lawyer began investigating the killing and concluded that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, hadn’t worked alone. Lane was among the first to suggest that another gunman may have fired from the “grassy knoll,” and speculated that Jack Ruby—the nightclub owner who killed Oswald two days after Kennedy’s assassination—was part of a wider plot. Lane’s best-selling 1966 book Rush to Judgment slammed the Warren Commission, the federal inquiry into the assassination, and fueled a cottage industry of conspiracy-theory books on JFK’s murder. “The people of this nation,” Lane said, “have a different agenda from the politics of suppression, disinformation, perjury,…2 min
The Week Magazine|May 27, 2016From Russia with loveBACK WHEN HE hosted a prime-time talk show on MSNBC, Ed Schultz divided the world into heroes and villains. The heroes usually included Democrats like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The villains were mostly Republicans, and especially Donald J. Trump. When Trump obsessed over Obama’s birth certificate in 2011, Schultz branded him “a racist.” When Trump flirted with running for president, Schultz ridiculed him. “Mr. Trump, stop embarrassing yourself!”Another bad guy was Russian President Vladimir Putin. Schultz delighted in ripping conservatives for what he called their “love affair” with the Russian leader and his ability to make Obama look weak on the world stage. “They hate Obama so much they will even embrace the head of the KGB...‘Putie’ is their new hero!” Schultz said in one 2013 segment. In another,…10 min
