May 19, 2017 Volume 17 Issue 822

Home , Big Empty

INTERNATIONAL MAIN STORIES PEOPLE EUROPE’S Inside the Why Pitt NEW GOP health ﬁ nally got HOPE plan sober Pages 14, 16 Emmanuel Pages 5, 6 p.10 Macron

THE BEST OF THE U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA Trumped! Did the president fire Comey to halt the FBI’s Russia probe? p.4

MAY 19, 2017 VOLUME 17 ISSUE 822

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Editor’s letter

Let me say right off that some of my best friends are white Is there a message there? Remember: Only 31 percent of the U.S. men. I have been white and male myself for as long as I re- population consists of white, non-Hispanic males. The other member. Yet it must be said there’s something odd about the 69 per cent might well wonder if the disproportionate monochro- overwhelming white maleness of Washington’s current lead- matic maleness of those making laws and regulations might skew ership. When the House passed the American Health Care their thinking—leading this fraternity to conclude, for example, Act last week, only 20 of the 217 votes in favor came from that Planned Parenthood should lose all federal funding, or that women. Among women House members, the bill lost 63 to health insurers should be free to exclude contraception and ma- 20. A photo of President Trump celebrating the bill’s passage ternity coverage. (Who needs that? Not us.) Perspective mat- shows him surrounded by more than 30 congressmen, with ters. In a new study, researchers found that giving men a shot just two women visible. In the Senate, the 13 legislators cho- of testosterone made them more likely to make dumb mistakes, sen to draft that chamber’s version of Trumpcare are—yep—all and to insist nevertheless, “I’m definitely right.” (See Health & white males. No women, blacks, or Hispanics need apply. And Science.) Now, as my wife and two daughters would tell you, it’s not just health care. Every time President Trump signs a new I’m prone to a surfeit of certitude myself. But think about a hyper- executive order, he is surrounded by dozens of grinning aides, male who rushes into poorly considered gut decisions, and re- congressmen, and industry CEOs, nearly all of them white, fuses to even consider the possibility that he’s William Falk male, and over 50. wrong... Does that remind you of anyone? Editor-in-chief

NEWS 4 Main stories FBI Director James Editor-in-chief: William Falk Comey’s fi ring upends Managing editors: Theunis Bates, Carolyn O’Hara Russia probes; health-care Deputy editor/International: Susan Caskie fi ght moves to the Senate Deputy editor/Arts: Chris Mitchell Senior editors: Harry Byford, Alex Dalenberg, Richard Jerome, Dale Obbie, 6 Controversy of the week Hallie Stiller, Frances Weaver House Republicans have Art director: Dan Josephs Photo editor: Loren Talbot passed a long-awaited Copy editors: Jane A. Halsey, Jay Wilkins Obamacare repeal. Who Chief researcher: Christina Colizza Contributing editors: Ryan Devlin, benefi ts and who loses? Bruno Maddox 7 The U.S. at a glance VP, publisher: John Guehl VP, marketing: Tara Mitchell Texas outlaws sanctuary Sales development director: cities; Penn State hazing Samuel Homburger Account director: Steve Mumford charges; a measles Account managers: Shelley Adler, Alison Fernandez outbreak in Minneapolis Detroit director: Lisa Budnick Midwest director: Lauren Ross 8 The world at a glance Protesting Comey’s firing at the White House (p.4) Southeast director: Jana Robinson West Coast directors: James Horan, Kidnapped Nigerian girls Rebecca Treadwell released by Boko Haram; Integrated marketing director: Nikki Ettore ARTS LEISURE Integrated associate marketing director: Pentagon sends arms to Betsy Connors Syrian Kurdish fi ghters 22 Books 26 Food & Drink Integrated marketing managers: How black leaders Three ways the world Matthew Flynn, Caila Litman 10 People Research and insights manager: helped promote mass makes omelets Joan Cheung Brad Pitt’s soul-searching; Marketing designer: Triona Moynihan incarceration Marketing coordinator: Reisa Feigenbaum Miley Cyrus embraces 27 Travel Digital director: Garrett Markley her wholesome side 23 Author of the week Where to watch August’s Senior digital account manager: The wunderkind who total solar eclipse Yuliya Spektorsky 11 Briei ng Digital planner: Jennifer Riddell warned about anger in 30 Consumer Chief operating & financial officer: Can anti-missile systems rural France Kevin E. Morgan The best gear for Director of financial reporting: protect the U.S. from a Arielle Starkman North Korean attack? 24 Film & Music cycling commuters EVP, consumer marketing & products: Chris Stapleton rewards Sara O’Connor 12 Best U.S. columns Consumer marketing director: country fans with BUSINESS Leslie Guarnieri Trump’s historical HR manager: Joy Hart a throwback ignorance; protecting 31 News at a glance Operations manager: Cassandra Mondonedo Adviser: Ian Leggett speech we don’t like 25 Television Sinclair expands its Chairman: John M. Lagana 14 Best European David Lynch broadcasting empire; U.K. founding editor: Jolyon Connell columns and friends Dove’s bottle ad stunt Company founder: Felix Dennis Can Emmanuel Macron return to Twin 32 Making money Peaks heal a divided France? Saving for retirement in Visit us at TheWeek.com. the home stretch For customer service go to www 16 Talking points .TheWeek.com/service or phone us Hillary Clinton’s blame 34 Best columns at 1-877-245-8151. game; the FBI translator Airline passengers revolt; Renew a subscription at www who went rogue; Trump’s a new age of low growth; .RenewTheWeek.com or give a gift Brad Pitt at www.GiveTheWeek.com.

Newscom, Getty Newscom, order on religious liberty (p.10) Netﬂ ix takes on piracy

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 4 NEWS The main stories... Comey’s shock firing complicates Russia probe What happened Comey when the FBI reopened the Democratic lawmakers this week de- email investigation in the last days manded a special prosecutor be appointed of the campaign, saying the director to investigate possible ties between Russia had “guts” and “did the right thing.” and President Donald Trump’s election Rather, Comey was dismissed because campaign after Trump abruptly fired FBI he was “leading an active investigation Director James Comey, who had been that could bring down a president.” overseeing the bureau’s investigation of We are at a “perilous moment” in our Russian meddling in the 2016 election. nation’s history. Comey’s summary dismissal stunned much of Washington; Comey himself learned of Congress must now “rise to the occa- his firing from a TV news bulletin while sion,” said The Boston Globe. Trump’s he was delivering a speech to agents in Los nominee to replace Comey must receive Angeles. The White House said Attorney a thorough vetting by the Senate, “not General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney Comey had sought to expand the Russia inquiry. behind closed doors, but in full view of General Rod Rosenstein had recommend- the public, rank-and-file FBI agents, and ed Comey’s dismissal because of his handling of the probe into the president.” Lawmakers must put aside their partisan biases and Hillary Clinton’s private email server last year. A memo prepared stand up for the integrity of the FBI. “Anything less risks deepening by Rosenstein, who took office two weeks ago, said Comey violat- what already looks like a travesty of justice.” ed long-standing FBI policy when he held a news conference in July criticizing Clinton’s email practices, calling Comey’s act a “text- What the columnists said book example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught “Virtually every major scandal in American politics” has been not to do.” Trump said in Comey’s termination letter that the FBI compared to Watergate, said David Greenberg in The Washington needed new leadership to restore “public trust and confidence” in Post. None has rivaled Richard Nixon’s abuse of power—“until the agency, and referenced the Russia inquiry, thanking Comey for now.” Comey’s ouster recalls the “Saturday Night Massacre,” allegedly informing him, “on three separate occasions, that I am when Nixon fired Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, not under investigation.” then abolished his office. While technically legal, it was a blatant attempt by Nixon “to snuff out an investigation that was closing in Comey’s dismissal came as the FBI’s Russia probe appeared to be on him.” The parallels with Trump are striking—and terrifying. accelerating. Days before his firing, Comey had asked Rosenstein for a significant increase in funds and personnel for the investi- Trump has once again “demonstrated his inability to tolerate any gation, according to congressional officials. This week, federal authority that lies beyond his control,” said Jonathan Chait in prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of Trump’s NYMag.com . He sees the federal government “as personally sub- former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. ordinate to himself, exactly like his business.” The question now is how far Republicans “will let him go before they stop him, or After Comey’s firing, Trump defended his decision, asserting that whether the midterm elections will give Democrats the chance.” the former FBI director “wasn’t doing a good job” and accusing Democrats of hypocrisy because they had previously criticized The truth is, Comey “should’ve been fired months ago,” said Ben Comey. But Democrats called the firing a thinly veiled attempt Domenech in TheFederalist.com. From his interventions in the by Trump to derail the bureau’s Russia investigation. Using the 2016 campaign to his grandstanding congressional appearances, Clinton probe to fire Comey “is laughable,” said Sen. Richard the former director has repeatedly shown he “cares more about his Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “What we have now really is a looming personal image than the department he leads.” The FBI needs “a constitutional crisis that is deadly serious.” fresh start,” said John Yoo in FoxNews.com. Trump “made this tough decision for the good of the country, despite the heavy, and What the editorials said predictable, criticism it will bring.” Comey “committed more than enough What next? mistakes in the last year to be dismissed The search for a new FBI leader has already be- I hope that Republicans do the right for cause,” said The Wall Street Journal. gun, said Eileen Sullivan in the Associated Press. thing and push for a special pros- After ignoring protocol in his handling Two names in the mix include former Republican ecutor, said Brian Beutler in New of the Clinton email investigation, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Republic.com. More likely, we are Comey has repeatedly “dangled insinu- Rogers and Ken Wainstein, a former head of the about to “tumble down one of two ations” about Trump and Russia in his Justice Department’s National Security Division. dark paths.” In one scenario, Trump testimony to Congress. “He is political Trump’s choice will “likely have a huge impact” attempts “to co-opt or weaponize in precisely the way we don’t want a on how the FBI’s Russia investigation moves the FBI” with a pliable new director. leader of America’s premier law enforce- forward—and more importantly, “whether the Agents resign en masse, leaks flood ment agency to behave.” Better that he public will accept its outcome.” The new director out, “then impeachment proceedings was fired “now than never.” will also have the tricky task of “winning over rank- begin.” The other path? Republicans and-file agents,” said Mikayla Bouchard in The “continue to enable Trump’s assault Comey deserves criticism for the Clinton New York Times. Comey was popular among on democracy and the rule of law,” probe, but “that’s not the reason Trump staff, and the public way that he learned about his while Democrats flail in fruitless fired him,” said The New York Times. termination “will probably stay in their minds.” protest. “And the nation’s slide into

Trump had “nothing but praise” for authoritarianism begins in earnest.” AP

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Photo by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty. Cover photos from AP, Getty (2) ... and how they were covered NEWS 5 Health-care reform heads to the Senate

What happened no debate. He didn’t even wait for an Senate Republicans set to work on health- assessment by the Congressional Budget care reform this week, after their colleagues Office—perhaps because the nonpartisan in the House narrowly approved landmark body predicted the original bill would strip legislation to repeal and replace key parts 24 million people of their coverage. of the Affordable Care Act. Six weeks after conservative opposition derailed the original Republicans should celebrate, said The bill, a new version of the American Health Wall Street Journal. This was the first Care Act passed the House 217-213, with stage in fulfilling their main campaign 20 Republicans defecting. As before, the promise, and welcome proof that they bill would scrap tax penalties for people can govern. The AHCA doesn’t repeal who go without health insurance, roll back Obamacare entirely—that would require the state-by-state expansion of Medicaid, Democratic votes. But it “marks a giant Trump celebrates with House Republicans. defund Planned Parenthood, and replace step away from the Democratic march to means-tested insurance subsidies with tax credits based mainly on a government-run health care.” person’s age, ranging from $2,000 for 20-somethings to $4,000 for those in their 60s. New amendments would let states seek waivers What the columnists said so insurers could cover fewer “essential services” and charge higher After the humiliation of their first run at health-care reform, Ryan premiums to customers who have pre-existing conditions or fail to and Trump badly needed a win, said Alex Shephard in New Republic maintain coverage. States that make these changes would be encour- .com. This wasn’t one. If the AHCA passes into law, the millions aged to set up high-risk pools for uninsurable Americans, backed of newly uninsured voters will know exactly whom to blame. If it by federal funds. (See Controversy.) “This is a repeal and replace of doesn’t, Democrats will still slam the Republicans who voted for it. Obamacare,” President Trump said. “Make no mistake about it.” With health care set to be the “defining issue” of the 2018 mid- terms, this was a “remarkably short-sighted” move. With several Republican senators declaring that they wouldn’t pass the bill in its current form, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc- The Senate can, and must, improve this bill, said Kimberley Strassel Connell set up a 13-man working group to craft its own version. in The Wall Street Journal. Ryan identified that the way to balance Expected changes include reducing the proposed $880 billion in the concerns of moderates and hard-liners was to focus on states’ cuts to Medicaid over the next decade and introducing stronger rights. If McConnell builds on that concept—offering states “vast protections for the old, the poor, and those with pre-existing condi- flexibility to craft fixes to their own unique problems”—it will lead tions. Democrats warned House Republicans that voters would to “true health-care innovation,” while also keeping “the sprawl- punish them for the legislation. “You will glow in the dark on this ing conservative universe united.” one,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It’s not that simple, said Russell Berman in The Atlantic.com. What the editorials said Republican senators from states like Louisiana and New Hampshire It’s hard to overstate just how terrible this legislation is, said The that benefited from Medicaid expansion won’t accept “deep cuts” to Washington Post. It would leave millions of Americans with unaf- the program, and hard-line conservatives like Kentucky Sen. Rand fordable premiums, and dump 14 million from Medicaid—all to Paul are denouncing the bill as “Obamacare-lite.” How will they provide a $1 trillion tax cut for wealthy Americans. That this passes ever agree? Who knows, said Jim Newell in Slate.com. But everyone as a “win” for Republicans is “beyond sad.” Speaker of the House was also convinced House Republicans couldn’t pass the AHCA. Yet Paul Ryan has done exactly what Republicans accused Democrats their caucus reluctantly embraced a terrible bill after concluding that of doing with Obamacare, said The San Diego Union-Tribune. He failing to do so would be even worse. “No one should assume that pushed through a “complex bill” along partisan lines, after almost the Senate won’t do the same, for the same reason.”

It wasn’t all bad Q Carl Scheckel knows that not all heroes wear capes. In Q For one refugee, a family heir- a show of support for American soldiers, the 10-year-old loom proved the key to the Ameri- Q A rescue dog is being hailed as a comic-book aficionado from New Jersey decided to collect can Dream. Ruwaida G. fled Syria hero after saving his Iowa fam- and donate thousands of comic books to veterans in hospi- with her family in 2012, eventually ily from a fire. Capone’s owner, tals and servicemen deployed overseas. The mastermind of settling in Georgia. She wasn’t able mother-of-nine Angela Fullmer, CarlsComix.com, Scheckel gathered roughly 3,500 books for to pack many belongings, but made 32, was trying to get some much- the nearby Joint Base sure to keep her mother’s wooden needed sleep when the miniature McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. cookie mold. Once settled, she pinscher- Chihuahua mix started When he arrived to began baking again, and her Syrian barking incessantly. When the little donate them in person, treats won over cookie- loving local dog wouldn’t stop, Fullmer knew officers treated him to a volunteers. Together, they launched something was up and quickly real- surprise VIP tour of the Sweet, Sweet Syria—a growing ized her kitchen was on fire. Within base, where he got to cookie business that Ruwaida minutes, she managed to get all of try on military gear and hopes will provide for her family her children out of the house—with explore the inside of a for years to come. Ruwaida learned Capone trailing behind. “I’m glad we plane. “It was the best the recipe from her mother. In turn, found him on the highway,” Fullmer day of my life!” wrote she says, it could “help our children said. “It was supposed to happen.” Carl makes his delivery. Carl on his website. succeed in their life.” Getty, Pasqual Flores Pasqual Getty,

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 6 NEWS Controversy of the week American Health Care Act: The winners and the losers

The “cliché about Republicans is that they’re heart- or who live in a non-waiver state. For the “fraction less and cold and don’t care about the weak and of a fraction of a fraction of the population” out- the poor and the defenseless,” said Michael side those categories, state-run high-risk pools will Tomasky in TheDailyBeast.com. “Sometimes, “ensure that no one is left out in the cold.” clichés are true.” The American Health Care Act passed by House Republicans last week is stuffed Nice try, said Matt O’Brien in WashingtonPost with “draconian—no, outright cruel—features.” .com. The Republicans who wrote the AHCA It would gut Medicaid, forcing 14 million may “technically have a plan for covering people to lose coverage over the next decade. sick people,” but the devil’s in the details. As well as reducing federal Medicaid spending by States could seek waivers that would let health What’s inside the AHCA? insurers charge higher premiums for people with $880 billion—about 25 percent—over a decade, pre-existing conditions, something barred by President Obama’s the Act’s vaunted high-risk pools “wouldn’t have enough money” Affordable Care Act. It would let insurers charge the oldest enroll- to provide affordable coverage for poor people who already have ees five times as much as the youngest, up from three times as much health problems. The AHCA provides a paltry $138 billion for high- under Obamacare. Republicans really seem to believe that healthy risk pools, about a third of what some experts say they would cost, people shouldn’t subsidize health care for sick people, said Janine while granting a de facto tax cut of nearly a trillion dollars to higher- Reid in the Chicago Tribune, as if the latter group were made up income Americans. In the cold-blooded vision of the AHCA’s archi- entirely of smokers, reckless drivers, and “people who forgot to eat tects, clearly, “not being rich is the ultimate pre-existing condition.” vegetables.” It isn’t. As a breast-cancer survivor and the mother of a child diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 9, I’ve learned the hard The AHCA is just a first draft of the Republican health-care bill, way that merely “being human is a pre-existing condition.” said Avik Roy in Vox.com. The Senate must make sure its version does a better job of providing “financial assistance to poor people.” Let me explain the math, said Hadley Manning in Washington That said, the AHCA contains some useful proposals that should Examiner.com. Obamacare is failing because not enough young, bring younger, healthier people into the insurance market, which healthy people are signing up for coverage. Why? The annual cost in turn will “bring premiums down for everybody.” I know people of insurance is greater than the expected cost of their minimal whose lives have been saved by Obamacare, said Mary Ham in health-care needs. The only way an insurance-based system can TheFederalist.com. But I also remember being a “seven-month- work is if we “balance insurance pools” by having people’s premi- pregnant widow,” two weeks after my husband died in 2015, and ums reflect the actual cost of the care they’re likely to need. The being informed that “I’d lost my third or fourth health-insurance claim that the AHCA won’t cover pre-existing conditions is a “lie,” plan since the Affordable Care Act passed.” As these vital debates said Rich Lowry in NationalReview.com. The current protections continue, both sides need to remember that behind the numbers will remain for those insured through their employer, or through there are real human beings affected by “every imperfect adjust- Medicaid or Medicare; who maintain continuous private coverage; ment to our Frankenstein system.”

Good week for: Only in America Boring but important Powerful curses, after researchers in the U.K. found that shout- QStudents at Northern Arizo- ing expletives during physical exertion can boost strength, espe- Scientists removed na University are being asked cially during tasks that require short, intense bursts of power like from EPA board to check their “pee privilege.” opening a tight-lidded jar. “We have yet to understand the power Environmental Protection New signs posted outside of swearing,” one researcher concluded. Agency Administrator Scott campus restrooms state Pruitt dismissed half of the that “the ability to undoubt- Digging for treasure, after scientists at several U.S. universities members on a key scientific edly know which bathroom revealed that eating boogers can improve dental hygiene and over- advisory board last week, part to pick is a characteristic of all good health, thanks to their “rich reservoir” of good bacteria. of an overhaul of the way the pee privilege”—a reference Recycling, after a Danish brewery launched a new line of beer EPA approaches the science to the ongoing debate over named Pisner, made with barley fermented in human urine. “If it and research that underpin transgender bathroom access. had tasted even a bit like urine, I would have put it down,” one regulations. All nine of those Being able “to use a restroom sampler said. “But you don’t even notice.” removed from the 18-member without fear,” the sign reads, Board of Scientific Counselors, also constitutes pee privilege. Bad week for: which is typically composed of QAn Arizona elementary Avoiding the pole tax, after a New York City strip club academic scientists, had com- school repeatedly served pork attempted to dodge a $3.1 million state tax bill by claiming its pleted their three-year terms, though these terms are often products to a Muslim second- exotic dancers could be classed as sex therapists, and so were not grader because she isn’t a renewed. The outgoing mem- “normal” Muslim. The stu- subject to taxes. A tax tribunal rejected the argument, and the bers had advised the agency dent’s mother, identified only Penthouse Executive Club must now pay up. on issues including toxic water as Nancy, says the principal of Business class, after researchers in Denmark discovered that pollution, climate change, Holaway Elementary told her people who exhibit the “Dark Triad” of personality traits—narcis- and chemical safety. They are the confusion stemmed from sism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism—are more likely to have expected to be replaced by her daughter being a “white majored in business or economics at college. industry-aligned advisers. An EPA spokesman said Pruitt girl” who doesn’t wear “tradi- Taking cheap shots, after a Colorado high school teacher was tional clothes.” The local school was simply seeking a “clean board suggested that the child suspended for allowing students in his Spanish class to whack a break with the last administra- bring “a meal from home.” Donald Trump piñata to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. “This was tion’s approach.”

incredibly disrespectful,” said the local school superintendent. Getty

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 The U.S. at a glance ... NEWS 7

Minneapolis Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Measles outbreak: Minnesota health offi- McMaster on borrowed time? President Yates testifies: In highly cials this week blamed anti-vaccine activ- Trump is increasingly frustrated with anticipated testimony ists for the state’s worst measles outbreak his latest national security adviser, H.R. before a Senate judiciary in nearly 30 McMaster, and is convinced that the gen- subcommittee, former years, with eral is “undermining his policy,” accord- Acting Attorney at least 48 ing to a Bloomberg report published this General Sally Yates confirmed week. Trump brought in McMaster to confirmed this cases of the replace his first national security adviser, week that she virus reported Michael Flynn. But Trump reportedly warned the White Yates: Urgent warning in recent believes McMaster has steadily undercut House less than a weeks. The the administration’s positions on a vari- week into the new Trump administra- Worst contagion in decades vast major- ety of foreign policy issues. McMaster tion that then–national security adviser ity of the annoyed Trump when he sent memos Michael Flynn had lied about his con- measles cases are in unvaccinated Somali- pleading for the president not to use the tacts with Russia’s ambassador to the American children 10 years old or phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” during U.S., and that Flynn was vulnerable to younger in the Minneapolis area. Vaccine his speech to a joint session of Congress blackmail by Moscow. “We wanted to skepticism began spreading in the Somali- in February, said Bloomberg. Trump also tell the White House as quickly as pos- American community there in 2008, after “screamed” at McMaster for assuring sible,” said Yates during the hearing. “To parents noticed a disproportionate num- South Korean officials that the president’s state the obvious: You don’t want your ber of Somali children receiving special- threat to make Seoul pay for a missile national security adviser compromised education services for autism. “At that defense system was not “official” policy. with the Russians.” President Trump point, the anti-vaccine groups just really Trump denied the reports, saying he fired Flynn on Feb. 13, when news of started targeting the community,” “couldn’t be happier” with McMaster. Flynn’s false statements to the vice said Minnesota Department president and others broke pub- of Health official Kristen licly. Yates was dismissed at Ehresmann. Those groups later the end of January after refus- promoted a fraudulent study ing to defend Trump’s first con- that proposed a link between troversial travel ban. Asked why the measles, mumps, and Trump waited 18 days to act on rubella (MMR) vaccine and Yates’ urgent warning, White House autism. By 2014, vaccination Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the rates among Somali-American administration believed Yates to be a children in Minnesota had plum- “political opponent” of the president. meted to about 40 percent.

Austin San Juan, Puerto Rico Sanctuary cities targeted: Texas Gov. Greg Economic crisis: Puerto Abbott banned so-called sanctuary cit- Rico became the first ies in his state this week, American state or territory signing a controversial bill State College, Pa. to file for bankruptcy pro- in an unannounced cer- Hazing charges: Eighteen Penn State tection this emony streamed live University fraternity members are facing week, in a on Facebook. Civil more than 1,000 criminal charges between last-ditch bid Deep in the red rights activists said them, including aggravated assault and to stave off creditors and Abbott’s decision involuntary manslaughter, over the death save the island’s essential public services to hold a signing of a sophomore who fell down the stairs from ruin. Thanks to a recession and a without public of a frat house during a pledge ceremony “brain drain” to the mainland, the U.S. notice was a in February. According to a grand jury territory owes more than $120 billion Abbott’s unusual signing “cowardly” ploy report released last week, it took Beta in public debt and unfunded pension to avoid planned protests against the leg- Theta Pi members nearly 12 hours to call liabilities—dwarfing the $18 billion islation, which threatens law-enforcement 911 after discovering Timothy Piazza, 19, bankruptcy filed by Detroit in 2013. officers with a Class A misdemeanor at the bottom of the stairs. During that Last week, Puerto Rico announced it charge if they refuse to comply with a period, they allegedly poured water on was closing 184 public schools, forcing detention request from federal immigra- Piazza’s face, slammed him onto a couch, the relocation of 27,000 students at the tion agents. The law would also fine and hit him in the abdomen. Piazza, end of the academic year. Puerto Rico is local governments up to $25,000 a day whose blood-alcohol level was more “unable to provide its citizens effective if they enact policies that block immigra- than four times the legal driving limit, services,” according to this week’s fed- tion enforcement. The bill was passed by was seen on surveillance camera footage eral court filing, which came two days the GOP-controlled state legislature last repeatedly falling and hitting his head on after a deadline for the island to negoti- week, but was opposed by every major the floor. By the time frat members called ate a debt-payment plan with its credi- police chief in Texas. Abbott’s office said 911, Piazza’s skin had turned gray, and he tors. The territory will now be able to the Republican governor’s decision to had been re-dressed in clean clothes. The take its debt-restructuring plan to a spe- skip a traditional signing ceremony was a fraternity house has been permanently cial court process enacted by Congress

Getty (2), AP (2) (2), Getty way to reach out “directly” to Texans. banned from the college. last year.

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 8 NEWS The world at a glance ...

Dublin Düsseldorf, Germany Blasphemy law in spotlight: Ireland’s 2009 defamation Swiss spying: The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service has been spy- law, which also bans blasphemy, came under fire this ing on Germany to try to determine how the Germans got details week after police opened an investigation against British of secret Swiss bank accounts, German media reported last week. comedian Stephen Fry. A citizen brought a complaint For years, the German state of North Rhine–Westphalia has been over a remark Fry made on a 2015 episode of an Irish buying stolen data containing the names and bank account details talk show: “Why should I respect a capricious, mean- of Germans who evade taxes by stashing their money in Swiss minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full accounts. Now the Swiss are trying to figure out who has been of injustice and pain?” Police soon dropped the investiga- squealing to the Germans. German media say a Swiss mole was tion, saying nobody had been harmed by the comment, but planted in the state’s government, and police recently arrested the case alarmed many Irish citizens who had not realized a 54-year-old man on suspicion of spying. “You could hardly their country even had a blasphemy law. “It’s a bit embar- imagine a spy thriller like this taking place, not on the big screen, rassing,” said Health Minister Simon Harris. “It needs to but on our doorstep,” said state Finance Minister Norbert Walter- Fry be changed.” The Irish government said it might hold a Borjans, adding that the case showed how Switzerland was deter- referendum on the issue. mined to protect its secret banking system. Kehl, Germany Far-right murder plot: At least two German soldiers have been arrested for plotting to kill German officials and frame refugees for the crimes, raising fears that a right-wing extremist network is operating within the country’s military. Authorities said Lieut. Franco Albrecht falsely registered himself as a Syrian refugee at a shelter in central Germany; another soldier, identified as Maximilian T., aided Albrecht and covered for him while he was away from his base. With the assistance of a third man, a student, the group amassed weapons and began staking out possible victims, including former German President Joachim Gauck and Justice Minister Heiko Maas. In 2014, Albrecht had expressed far-right, racist views in the dissertation he wrote as part of his officer’s training, but he was let off with a warning. The common room in his unit’s barracks was decorated with Nazi memorabilia. Mexico City War zone: Mexico is now the deadliest conflict zone in the world after Syria, an actual war zone. The war on and between drug gangs killed 23,000 people last year, more than died violently in Iraq or Afghanistan. The carnage was par- ticularly surprising, as Mexico’s is a war “marked by the absence of artillery, tanks, or combat aviation,” said John Chipman Another drug war casualty of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which chronicles conflicts around the world. The deaths “are nearly all attributable to small arms.” Mexican drug cartels earn some $25 billion a year selling drugs in the U.S.

Caracas Violence in the streets: Opposition groups this week rejected Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s plan to rewrite the con- Abuja, Nigeria stitution, as hundreds of thousands of people marched to demand Chibok girls home: Nigerians new elections. Record-high inflation and food shortages have left celebrated this week after 82 of Venezuelans desperate, and clashes between police and protesters the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped are now routine. At least 37 people have been killed since protests by the Islamist terrorist group Boko began in March, and hundreds have been injured. One protester Haram in 2014 were returned to caught fire last week as demon- their families. In a negotiation bro- strators hurled Molotov cock- kered by the Red Cross, Nigeria The freed girls tails at security forces; another freed three top Boko Haram fighters was run over by a police in exchange for the release of the girls, ages 16 to 18. The young armored car. The U.S. ambas- women, many of whom now have children and have undergone sador to the United Nations, brainwashing by their captors, will likely spend some months in Nikki Haley, said Maduro’s government care to be deprogrammed and helped to reintegrate “disregard for the fundamental into family life. The girls were among 276 boarding-school stu- rights of his own people has dents Boko Haram forced from their beds in the middle of the heightened the political and eco- night three years ago. Some of the captives esc aped and others

Protesters and authorities face off. nomic crisis in the country.” were released earlier by the jihadists; 113 are still being held. Getty AP, (2), Getty

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 The world at a glance ... NEWS 9

Raqqa, Syria Kabul Arming the Kurds: President Trump U.S. troop surge? The White House has authorized a Pentagon plan to is considering sending up to 5,000 arm Syrian Kurdish rebels to fight more troops to Afghanistan and ISIS, drawing a strong rebuke from giving the military far broader Turkey, which sees the Kurds as a authority to use airstrikes to target threat to its own territorial integrity. Taliban militants. National security The weapons will go to the YPG, adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster and a Kurdish militia that is part of the U.S. forces in northern Syria Defense Secretary James Mattis U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Ankara considers the YPG are both reportedly in favor of the Getting extra company soon a terrorist organization with ties to the PKK, the main Kurdish plan, while chief strategist Stephen separatist group in Turkey. “Every weapon that they deliver Bannon is opposed. U.S. troops have been fighting in Afghanistan is a threat to Turkey,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut for nearly 16 years, and as a candidate Donald Trump criticized Cavusoglu. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to meet the American presence there. There are currently 8,450 U.S. troops with President Trump next week and is expected to demand a in Afghanistan, in addition to some 6,500 from other NATO reversal of the new policy. members. The war costs the U.S. an estimated $23 billion a year. Beijing Kushner family business: The family of President Trump’s son-in- law has been using its connections to the administration to promote its business. Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, held seminars around China this week urging attendees to partici- pate in the U.S. EB-5 visa program and qualify for a path to U.S. citizenship by investing at least $500,000 in a New Jersey luxury apartment building, a construction project Kushner ran before he became a senior White House adviser. In Beijing, a slide presenta- tion included a photo of Trump and a mention of Kushner’s new role. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the offer was a “stark conflict of interest” and called for an end to the EB-5 visa program, which offers residency to wealthy foreigners. Kushner Cos. apolo- gized, saying it had not intended to imply a connection to Trump.

Seoul ‘Sunshine’ for the North: On his first day in office, South Korean President Moon Jae-in offered to travel to Pyongyang to hold talks with North Korean President Kim Jong Un about the tense security situation on the peninsula. Moon, 64, the son of North Korean refugees and a former human rights lawyer, won 41 percent of the vote in this week’s election; Hong Joon-pyo, a conserva- Moon tive who promised to get tough with North Korea, came in second with 24 percent. Moon, a liberal, plans to restart the “sunshine policy” of wooing North Korea with trade and talks, including reopening a joint industrial park that gives jobs to North Koreans. The policies will put him at odds with President Trump, who wants to increase sanctions to force the North to give up its nuclear weapons program. Coligny, South Africa Racial tensions erupt: Riots broke Jakarta out in the small South African Ahok jailed: An Indonesian court has found the country’s most town of Coligny this week after popular Christian politician guilty of blasphemy, and sentenced two white men accused of killing a him to two years in prison. The ruling against Basuki Tjahaja black teen were granted bail. Pieter Purnama, known as Ahok, drew international condemnation. Doorewaard, 26, and Phillip Schutte, Ahok, a Christian who became the first ethnic Chinese gover- 34, allegedly caught Motlhomola nor of Jakarta, was running for re-election in this spring’s vote Venting their anger Mosweu, 16, stealing sunflowers when he told a rally not to listen to from a farm. They said he jumped Islamic hard-liners who were misin- out of their truck as they were taking him to the police, but a wit- terpreting a Quranic verse to claim ness said they assaulted him and then hurled him from the moving that Muslims are prohibited from vehicle. He died of a broken neck. Hundreds of protesters took to voting for non-Muslims. Hard- the streets after bail for the men was set at $370 each, and some liners said he had insulted Islam and

, Getty, AP , Getty, set fire to white-owned homes. White owners then attacked the led mass rallies calling him an infi- journalists covering the riots. A reporter with the South African del; he lost the election. The Jakarta Times, Shenaaz Jamal, said Coligny is segregated and backward Post said judges had ignored the

Getty, DOD, AP DOD, Getty, and appears to be “stuck in an apartheid time warp.” law and followed “mob pressure.” Ahok (center) in court

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 10 NEWS People

Miley’s wholesome new life Miley Cyrus is over her “bad girl” phase, said John Norris in Billboard. When the former Hannah Montana star left her Disney show in 2011, she was determined to shock. She cut off her hair, began smoking a lot of weed, and put on erotically charged performances wearing nipple pasties and PVC outfits. But while Cyrus, 24, had a lot of fun, she also alienated her “people”—the more conservative, country-music fans from her native Tennessee. “Fans don’t really take me seriously as a country artist. One, I haven’t given them that music. But Dolly Parton is my f---ing god- mother. All the nipple pastie s---, that’s what I did because I felt it was part of my political movement.” Now she’s determined to evolve again. Cyrus has grown her hair and even temporarily given up drugs. “I haven’t smoked weed in three weeks, which is the longest I’ve ever [gone without it]. I like to surround myself with people that make me want to get better. And I was noticing, it’s not the people that are stoned.” She’s also back with her former fiancé, Liam Hemsworth. The two split at the height of Cyrus’ wild phase. “Changing with someone else not changing like that is too hard. Suddenly you’re like, ‘I don’t recognize you anymore.’ We had to refall for each other.” A Googler’s equation for happiness Mo Gawdat has one of the most interesting brains in the tech industry, said Ian Tucker in The Guardian (U.K.). Gawdat works at Google X, the mysterious “moon-shot factory” that develops the Pitt’s soul-searching company’s most daring ideas, including flying delivery vehicles and Brad Pitt has had a tumultuous eight months, said Michael balloon-powered internet networks. But before he joined the tech Paterniti in GQ. In September, the Hollywood star’s world unrav- giant, Gawdat and his son devised their own mathematical formula eled after a reported altercation with one of his six children, for happiness. Measured by their equation, happiness is greater than 15-year-old Maddox. The incident onboard a private jet prompted or equal to your perception of events in your life, minus your expec- an FBI child-abuse investigation and precipitated the breakdown tation of how life should be. As Gawdat can testify, being wealthy of Pitt’s marriage to Angelina Jolie. Pitt, 53, takes full responsibil- doesn’t help. “The scientific research will tell you that once you ity for what happened. “I tend to run things into the ground,” he says. The actor’s drinking played a large part. “Personally, I can’t get to average income your happiness plateaus. When you go even remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing higher, wealth starts to work against you—people start to treat you or had a spliff, or something. Something. Truthfully I could drink differently; you start to feel a constant disappointment.” In 2014, a Russian under the table with his own vodka. It’s just become a Gawdat’s theory was put to the test, when his 21-year-old son died problem.” Pitt is now sober. “I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips during a routine medical procedure. Heartbroken, Gawdat decided again.” After sleeping on the floor of a friend’s house, he is back to lean on their equation and reset his expectations, while striving in the old family home, which he finds “solemn” without Jolie every day to feel better. “Happiness is very much like staying fit. and the kids. He and Jolie are trying to work out a way for him to [It] is a choice, you can actually achieve it, and there is a method to share custody. “I heard one lawyer say, ‘No one wins in court— make it happen.” In the end, the equation may have saved Gawdat it’s just a matter of who gets hurt worse.’ And it seems to be true. from his grief. Without it, “I would have definitely left life. I would It’s just an investment in vitriolic hatred. I just refuse. And fortu- have found a corner somewhere and shut the door.” nately my partner in this agrees.”

Brzezinski tells VanityFair.com. “Then he “about him, ironically, having fantasies of asked and I said, ‘Absolutely.’” The couple— cheating on his wife.” A source close to Rock who have six children between them—were dismisses the claim, but concedes the come- Q Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarbor- ough and Mika Brzezinski revealed married to other people when the show de- dian and his ex-wife “were off-and-on a lot.” buted in 2007 but insist romance didn’t spark last week they are engaged, ending Q George Michael’s longtime partner Kenny years of speculation about their until both were separated in 2015. “I had to Goss says he was so desperate to break the relationship. The political odd face these feelings,” says Brzezinski. “It was late singer’s drug addiction that he would couple—he’s an ex–GOP con- something I couldn’t deny anymore.” flush Michael’s stash “down the toilet.” gressman from Florida, she’s the Q Chris Rock cheated on his former wife with Michael died of natural causes at age 53 in daughter of Zbigniew Brzezin- Scandal star Kerry Washington, the New December, after a long spiral into drinking ski, national security adviser to York Post reports. The comic, 52, revealed and substance abuse. Goss, who dated him Jimmy Carter—flew last month to in a recent standup routine that he’d been from 1996 to 2011, told The Sun (U.K.) that the French Riviera, purportedly to “a piece of s---” during his 20-year marriage when they met, the singer only dabbled in celebrate Brzezinski’s 50th birth- to Malaak Compton-Rock, and described pot. But that escalated into a 25-joint-a-day day. But on a hill overlooking the infidelities with three women, “one famous.” habit—and eventually, ecstasy and cocaine. Mediterranean, Scarborough, 54, That was allegedly Washington, 40. Rock After they split, Michael became reclusive. dropped to one knee and held out “was cheating with Kerry while they were “I’ve cried thinking, ‘Why didn’t you take a diamond ring. “I started laughing filming [2007’s I Think I Love My Wife],” an better care of yourself?’” says Goss, 58. nervously, almost hysterically,” insider says, noting that the comedy was “Maybe if he had, he’d still be with us.” Newscom, Getty Newscom,

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Briefing NEWS 11 Shielding the homeland North Korea is developing nuclear weapons capable of hitting mainland America. Can anti-missile systems protect us?

How big a threat is North Korea to the U.S.? atmosphere. At the edge of space, 5-foot-long, Experts believe that Pyongyang currently has only 150-pound heat-seeking interceptors known as short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, which kill vehicles would separate from their booster puts South Korea and Japan in its crosshairs. To help rockets and fly toward the incoming warhead defend our allies, the Pentagon recently deployed at 4 miles per second. Dan Shanahan, a senior a $1 billion Terminal High Altitude Area Defense manager at Boeing’s Strategic Missiles and system (THAAD) to South Korea. Fired from Defense Systems division, likens the techni- truck-mounted launchers, THAAD’s interceptor cally demanding feat to shooting “a bullet with missiles have a range of 125 miles and are designed another bullet in space.” to destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles as they descend to earth. The interceptors use How accurate is the system? infrared technology to locate their target and smash Not accurate enough. “Despite more than a into it head-on, completely obliterating it. The decade of development and a bill of $40 billion, Navy also has warships in the Pacific equipped with the GMD system is simply unable to protect the Aegis weapons systems that can fire interceptors U.S. public,” the nonprofit Union of Concerned at short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. But Scientists wrote in a report last year. In nine both of those systems are largely ineffective against simulated ICBM attacks since 2004, the inter- intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which fly ceptors only took out their targets three times. at higher altitudes and faster speeds. And by 2020, And unlike in a real attack, the timing, size, military experts believe, North Korea will be able speed, and trajectory of the targets were known to build nuclear-tipped ICBMs capable of hitting Testing a GMD rocket by the U.S. military in advance. “The tests are the U.S. West Coast. “All the indications are that scripted for success,” says Philip Coyle, a direc- we have to be prepared to defend the homeland,” Adm. Samuel tor of operational testing during the Bush administration. “What’s J. Locklear III, then head of the U.S. Pacific Command, told amazing to me is that they still fail.” Congress in 2015. Why the problems? Could the U.S. shoot down an ICBM? Critics have blamed the Bush administration for fast-tracking the Researchers began working on anti-ICBM systems in the early days program and exempting the Missile Defense Agency from stan- of the Cold War—focusing primarily on nuclear-tipped interceptors dard Defense Department acquisition and testing procedures— that were intended to explode midair and destroy the incoming a policy continued under President Obama. The rush to get the enemy warhead. But most of those projects were put on hold in GMD deployed resulted in “a lot of bad engineering,” says Frank 1972 with the signing of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. That pact Kendall III, an undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technol- barred the U.S. and the Soviet Union from developing anti-missile ogy, and logistics in the Obama administration. Each kill system systems, out of fear that one side would gain the ability to launch has 1,000 components, and even the slightest malfunction can a first strike and then retreat behind its defenses, undermining the throw the interceptor wildly off course. The technology also has to deterrent of “mutually assured destruction.” President George keep working after being subjected to extreme stresses—scorching W. Bush withdrew from the treaty in heat and violent vibrations during 2002, citing the new threat from “rogue Son of ‘Star Wars’ takeoff, and then freezing conditions states,” like North Korea and Iran. On March 23, 1983, in the waning years of the outside Earth’s atmosphere. In contrast He gave the Pentagon two years to Cold War, President Ronald Reagan addressed to GMD, THAAD has a perfect test develop what became the Ground-based the nation and proposed the Strategic Defense record, while the Aegis system has an Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, Initiative—an ambitious anti-ICBM program he 85 percent hit rate. which debuted in 2004 and is designed hoped would render “nuclear weapons impo- to defend against an ICBM attack. tent and obsolete.” SDI would use a network of What’s next for the GMD system? ground- and space-based battle stations armed The Pentagon is refining the technol- How does the system work? with lasers that could zap Soviet missiles out ogy and building more interceptors; the It starts with infrared sensors on sat- of the sky. Detractors nicknamed the high-tech total will rise from 37 to 44 by the end ellites that look for the telltale heat proposal “Star Wars”; The New York Times of the year. But the Union of Concerned signature produced by ICBM rocket derided it as “a projection of fantasy into Scientists notes in its report that for the launches. When a launch is spotted, policy.” The project received funding in 1984 foreseeable future no missile defense radar systems begin tracking the mis- but proved to be technologically unachievable; system will be able to fully protect the sile, which if launched from North seven years and $30 billion later, President U.S. from the threat of an ICBM strike. Korea or Iran would likely fly over the George H.W. Bush began phasing it out. Yet Even if the GMD had “an improbably Arctic Circle—the most direct route to the spirit of Star Wars lives on. The Missile high” 95 percent effectiveness against Defense Agency announced in February that it the U.S.—reaching altitudes of nearly one missile, in an attack by five ICBMs had tested a laser-armed aerial drone, which it there would still be a 1-in-4 chance of 250 miles and speeds exceeding 800 hopes could eventually fly high above enemy miles per hour. Sixty-foot-tall GMD ICBM launch sites for weeks on end and zap at least one warhead penetrating the rockets would then emerge from their missiles as they lifted off. “This could revolu- defensive shield and potentially annihi- silos at Vandenberg Air Force Base in tionize missile defense,” says agency spokes- lating a U.S. city. That’s “a more likely Santa Barbara County, Calif., and Fort man Christopher Johnson. outcome,” the report says, “than cor-

Missile Defense Agency Missile Defense Greely, Alaska, and shoot into the upper rectly predicting the roll of a die.”

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 12 NEWS Best columns: The U.S.

President Trump’s lack of historical knowledge “is as revealing as it is Trump’s troubling,” said Jamelle Bouie. Trump prompted widespread snicker- It must be true... ing last week when he claimed in an interview that President Andrew I read it in the tabloids historical Jackson had been “really angry” about the Civil War—which, incon- ignorance veniently, erupted 16 years after Jackson’s death. “Why was there the Q A Maryland elementary Civil War?” Trump added. “Why could that one not have been worked school principal was forced Jamelle Bouie out?” The answer to that “is as straightforward now as it was in 1861”: to resign after she created a Slate.com slavery. The enslavement of millions of black Americans and all the “smash space” where teach- interests tied up in that institution dragged us toward an almost inevi- ers could relieve tension table bloody conflict. But Trump’s amoral alternative history reveals a by destroying old pieces of disturbing worldview in which every crisis can be resolved by deal mak- furniture with baseball bats. ing, “where there aren’t battles that have to be fought for the sake of the Barbara Liess said she picked nation and its soul.” Above all, Trump’s musings are a reminder that his up the idea from a news article, which explained how ignorance “isn’t an act or a performance.” Our president is as “uninter- some companies have anger ested in the challenges of the past as he is in the dilemmas of the pres- rooms where employees ent.” That should make all of us afraid. As we’ve been told many times, can de-stress by attacking “Those who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it.” computers. But parents complained that the destruction The idea that “conversion therapy” can turn gays and lesbians straight sent a troubling message to children and demanded Conversion “seems hopelessly misguided, if not downright delusional,” said Jeff Ja- Liess’ resignation. One therapy is coby. But that doesn’t mean therapists who try to talk people out of their parent, Damjan Jevti, said homosexuality should be punished. The Supreme Court refused to take he had no problem with the free speech up a challenge last week against a California ban on conversion therapy, teachers’ smash space: “It’s a only a few days after Democrats in Congress introduced legislation to better thing to do than to take Jeff Jacoby outlaw the controversial practice nationwide. The lawmakers argue that frustrations out on my kid.” The Boston Globe homosexuality isn’t a medical condition, which means conversion ther- Q A Buenos Aires man has apy patients are being defrauded through “deceptive advertising.” But it’s spent more than $35,000 on not the government’s job to stop people from wasting money on “dubi- plastic surgery so ous therapeutic techniques.” If it were, authorities would also have to that he can be- crack down on crackpot treatments like primal scream therapy and past- come a real-life life regression therapy. Moreover, conversion therapy isn’t some “risky elf. Luis Padron, surgical technique” or “dangerous drug”—it’s a discussion between a 25, fell in love therapist and a patient. And like all speech, that discussion should be with fantasy protected by the First Amendment. The fact that “millions of Americans, novels like Lord gay and straight alike, would deem it offensive and insulting, even hate- of the Rings ful,” is irrelevant. The Constitution gives people the freedom to engage in as a teenager all kinds of speech—even the kind that “makes you want to scream.” and has since undergone numer- ous procedures “Do you lie awake in bed more often these days, unable to sleep, scroll- to make himself resemble a Online news ing through Facebook or Twitter on your phone?” asked Michael Bren- mystical creature, including dan Dougherty. Do you have a nearly constant feeling of stress, a “gnaw- jaw liposuction, a nose job, is dragging ing fear” that dark alliances are conspiring against you? If so, “what and operations to change you’re feeling might be my fault.” I write about politics on the internet— his eye color from brown to us down and to my mind, nothing has warped the human experience more than blue. Next he plans to have his ears cut to be pointy like Michael Brendan Dougherty the way we receive news on social media. Together, the internet and jour- TheWeek.com an elf’s. “I consider myself nalists have colluded to feed our deepest suspicions. Are you an archi- trans-species,” says Padron. tec ture fan? “Someone just built a monstrosity next to a building you loved. Click here.” Worried about campus free speech? Scroll down and Q A Colombian woman ate you’ll find an outraged student magazine editorial confirming your worst her $9,000 life savings to pre- fears. The onslaught is incessant and comes as ever more Americans are vent her unfaithful husband from getting his hands on disconnected “from everything that is humane, gentle, or life-giving.” it. Sandra Milena Almeida, 30, Americans are now more likely to live alone than they were two decades had stashed the money away, ago, less likely to belong to a civic association, and more likely to have but when her spouse found an addiction. We’re living in a culture of anxiety and alienation, and I’m the hiding place and demand- only feeding it. So please, stop consuming “content”—even mine. ed half, she began devouring $100 bills. After suffering intestinal pains, she rushed to Viewpoint “For years, it’s been conservatives who have been branded as intolerant. But conservatives will tell you that liberals demonstrate their own intolerance, using the hospital, where surgeons political correctness as a weapon of oppression. So who’s right? Recent research confirms that conser- extracted $5,700 from her vatives, liberals, the religious, and the nonreligious are each prejudiced against those with opposing stomach. Those notes were views. But surprisingly, each group is about equally prejudiced. While liberals might think of them- “in good condition,” said sur- selves as more open-minded, they are no more tolerant of people unlike them than their conservative geon Juan Paolo Serrano, but counterparts are. Political understanding might stand a chance if we could first put aside the argument the rest of her savings were over who has that bigger problem. The truth is that we all do.” Matthew Hutson in Politico.com ruined by “gastric fluids.” Caters News ServiceCaters News

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The homeless Inuit who live on the streets of Dan- rated from their parents, the kids lost their fluency DENMARK ish cities “are a symbol of Denmark’s failed colo- in Inuit and their sense of tradition. In Danish nial policy” in Greenland, said Noa Agnete Metz. schools, said one Inuit graduate, “they don’t teach The wrong In the 1950s, the Danes began “a radical experi- you how to hunt—they don’t tell you our stories.” ment” intended “to create a Danish-educated Inuit The program “caused a rupture in Greenland’s done to elite” in Greenland who, they thought, would cultural fabric and created a social crisis that con- “bring civilization” to the island’s native people tinues to this day.” Even Denmark’s attempt to Greenland and allow them to thrive in the modern world. remedy the problem has backfired: Children are Instead, the program, which continued through no longer sent to Denmark, but all the good ad- Noa Agnete Metz the 1990s, all but destroyed their culture. Inuit ministrative jobs in Greenland require Danish flu- La Stampa (Italy) children were shipped off to Denmark to live in ency. Meanwhile, those Inuit who settled over the boarding schools for several years of instruction in years in Denmark find themselves and their chil- the colonial power’s language and culture. Sepa- dren “marginalized from broader Danish society.”

GREECE The Greeks are being offered up as a “massive the indignant, the expressers of society’s wrath.” human sacrifice” to the gods of international fi- The party came to power in 2015 promising to Austerity nance, said Dimokratia. The government in Ath- protect workers and old people, to cut a bet- ens, led by the left-wing Syriza party, has utterly ter deal with international creditors. But life for without end capitulated to the demands of foreign capital and ordinary Greeks has only gotten worse. Nearly agreed to yet another austerity package in return half the youth are unemployed, and half of Greek will kill us for $8 billion in emergency loans. Our pensions households rely on pension benefits—how are we will be slashed, our taxes raised. What do we supposed to live if pensions are cut even further? Editorial get in exchange for “our blood”? Nothing—the Even if we somehow survive all these cuts, our Dimokratia loans will be used to honor debt payments, so national debt will continue to soar, and credi- all the money will leave the country. We are tors will never be satisfied. The government once commanded to suffer as penance for years of complained that the international lenders’ “pre- allegedly living above our means. Syriza was sup- scription would kill the patient.” What is it doing posed to be the voice of the people, “the rebels, now but feeding us poison? France: Can Macron heal a divided nation? This was a presidential election “for At least he won’t be going it alone, the record books,” said Alexis Feert- said L’Obs in an editorial. His chak in Le Figaro. Centrist newcomer wife, Brigitte, will be a hands-on Emmanuel Macron beat nationalist first lady—a role that will soon firebrand Marine Le Pen 66 percent to be expanded to be more like “the 34 percent this week to become France’s American model, with an office, a new president, and nothing about his budget, and staff.” Brigitte met her victory was normal. At 39, Macron is husband when she was a 39-year- the youngest president in French history, old high school teacher and mother and has never before held elected office. of three and Macron was an intel- The runoff election was the first time lectually precocious 15-year-old that neither of the two main French student, which caused a minor parties—the center-left Socialists and the scandal. But the relationship lasted. center-right Republicans—was in con- Brigitte, 64, was omnipresent in tention. A record 25 percent of French her husband’s campaign, and advis- voters did not go to the polls at all; an- France’s youngest-ever president faces steep challenges. ers have learned: “To get to Em- other record 12 percent cast blank or spoiled ballots. And while manuel, you must go through Brigitte.” Le Pen lost, she took the highest vote share to date for a far- right candidate—her father, National Front founder Jean-Marie The good news is France has proved that “the nationalist tsu- Le Pen, won only 18 percent in the 2002 presidential runoff. nami that has been sweeping” the West can be defeated, said Raphaël Glucksmann in Le Monde. France did not follow Brit- The upshot is that Macron has “no real mandate,” said Hervé ish Brexit or American Trump voters in choosing angry popu- Nathan in Marianne. He is president thanks to the “anyone but lism. Still, a huge swath of our people feel alienated, and we Le Pen” vote, the determination by the majority not to allow a can’t just dismiss them. The 11 million French who voted for xenophobic ultranationalist to represent France. A former invest- Le Pen are “not all atavistically racist,” just as the 16 million ment banker and economy minister who quit the administra- who abstained or spoiled their ballots “are not all apathetic.” tion of outgoing Socialist President François Hollande because The old Left-Right split is gone, and in its place we have the ed- of his frustration at the slow pace of reform, Macron wants to ucated urban middle class versus the disgruntled rural working deregulate the labor market and simplify the tax system. Did class. Fortunately, Macron seems to realize that he must reach the French really vote for that? We’ll find out next month, when out to the disaffected. But can “his individualistic philosophy” Macron will try to get a parliamentary majority for his new really heal our “social and moral identity crisis”? Macron’s five- party, Forward!, which is still struggling to recruit members. year term will prove pivotal for France. Newscom

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Best columns: International NEWS 15

India: Should rapists receive the death penalty? The Supreme Court’s judgment in a led to new laws mandating tougher notorious gang-rape case “will put penalties for rape and special courts the fear of God into sexual preda- to fast-track cases. tors,” said DNAIndia.com in an editorial. The “gut-wrenching, graphic Yet in practice, not much has details” of the crime are seared into changed, said the Millennium Post. our nation’s consciousness: In 2012, The committee charged with over- six drunken men brutally attacked a hauling the rape laws “highlighted physiotherapy student on a moving the urgent need for greater safety bus, beating up her male friend and measures for women who use pub- raping and violating her with a metal lic transport.” But four years later, rod. The 23-year-old victim, Jyoti all we have is a new panic-button Singh, became known as Nirbhaya, app for smartphones, which is of or “Fearless,” because of her valiant Nirbhaya’s mother, Asha Devi, outside the Supreme Court little use to the mostly poor women efforts to fight off her attackers; she who ride buses and rickshaws. And died of her injuries two weeks after the assault. One of the at- the nearly $500 million Nirbhaya Fund, which is supposed to tackers committed suicide in police custody; another, a minor, support programs that protect women’s safety in public spaces, was sentenced to three years in prison. The final four assailants “has remained almost entirely unspent.” Worst of all, the num- were sentenced to death, a rare punishment here, and last week ber of rape cases being reported to the authorities has climbed the Supreme Court upheld their sentences. They will hang: a by nearly 40 percent since 2012. Perhaps some of that surge is suitable end for the criminals who awoke “a deep, seething due to women being more willing to come forward. But with rage” among Indian women. 95 rapes reported every day, India must do better. Why did this rape resonate so? asked Namita Bhandare in The rise in rapes shows that the death penalty is not working Livemint.com . Before 2012, poor women were raped every as a deterrent, said The Indian Express. And some of the other day in India, and the entire country did not rise up in outrage. laws have actually backfired: Raising the age of consent from 16 Nirbhaya, though, was “an ideal victim” to arouse Indian sym- to 18 has prompted a raft of rape charges brought by angry par- pathy. She was “the hardworking daughter of an airport loader ents against their teenage daughters’ boyfriends. To fight rape, who had sold his land in order to educate her,” an aspirational India must change its culture to end “women’s economic mar- figure “India could and did empathize with.” That’s why the ginalization” and stamp out “regressive gender imagery in the Nirbhaya case “remains a touchstone of almost mythical pro- media.” Toughening penalties for rape “addresses the appalling, portion.” Massive nationwide protests after Nirbhaya’s death but not the endemic.”

Malaysians are obsessed with knowing people’s Is this where we’re going as a society? We will MALAYSIA background, said Erna Mahyuni. What race are police one another’s gaming, then maybe read- you? What’s your religion? “Questions that are ing habits, then friendships? “Apostasy is already First tell me: considered rude in many other places are non- a loaded issue in Malaysia,” where blasphemy chalantly asked of perfect strangers,” as if we is punishable with prison time, “so ascribing it Are you a don’t know how to react to someone unless we to, of all things, a fictional character is frankly know whether they share our own particular disturbing.” This is a multifaith country, about Muslim? ethnicity or faith. Every government form asks 60 percent Muslim, 20 percent Buddhist, and the about religion—as does every form generated by rest mostly Christian or Hindu. Yet we don’t live Erna Mahyuni any entity here. “I really don’t see why a tampon peacefully together. The latest Pew Research Cen- The Malay Mail survey needs to know” my religion, for instance. ter study found that our nation ranks high in acts Recently on Twitter some users began speculating of religious hostility. Maybe if we treated every- about the religion of a video game character, won- one the same, without first asking their religion, dering whether she was Muslim or an “apostate.” we would all get along better.

KENYA Kenya is heading for another bloody election sea- on the radio who openly called for rioting and son, said Mutuma Mathiu. The presidential and bloodshed—and they got their way, as more than Will we parliamentary elections are scheduled for early 1,200 people were killed and hundreds of thou- August, but schools already have contingency plans sands displaced. This time around, radio hosts are once again for classes to be suspended until October. They as- being kept in check, but now “there is an army sume that riots and ethnic pogroms are going to of hatemongering inciters online.” And given the kill for politics? break out. I’m torn between being impressed that widespread corruption and nearly total lack of law the schools are being so pragmatic and “aghast at enforcement, “politicians can say almost anything Mutuma Mathiu the fact that we learned nothing” from the 2007 they like, perhaps even buy and distribute machetes, Daily Nation and 2008 election violence. Both main parties in and get away with it.” I’d like to say Kenyans don’t that contest engaged in widespread cheating, bal- deserve these terrible leaders, but I can’t. We “are lot stuffing, and rigging, so there was no way to almost incurably dishonest, we have no respect for

Newscom tell who had won. Both sides also had pet pundits the rules, and we have the morals of alley cats.”

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 16 NEWS Talking points Noted France: Is the populist tide receding? Q The number of Ameri- “Liberalism, it turns out, isn’t victory also does nothing cans over 50 who cohabit dead after all,” said Matthew to solve the deep, structural with an unmarried partner Karnitschnig in Politico.eu. issues driving populism in the jumped from 2.3 million After a year in which the U.S. West, such as high levels of in 2007 to 4 million in sent a nativist to the White immigration and the “grow- 2016—a nearly 75 percent House and the U.K. voted to ing chasm between affluent increase. leave the European Union, urban centers and a stagnant The New York Times many feared that this week’s periphery.” If anything, the Q With Emmanuel Ma- French presidential elec- French election “represents cron’s victory in the French tion “would be the coup de the new normal,” said Shadi presidential election, the grâce for Western democratic Hamid in TheAtlantic.com. current leaders of Europe’s ideals.” Mais non! Centrist Macron supporters celebrate in Paris. Rather than the Left battling four biggest economies— candidate Emmanuel Macron instead achieved a the Right, Western politics will increasingly pit the Germany, the U.K., France, resounding 66 to 34 percent victory over his far- establishment against populist-nationalists. This and Italy—have no biologi- right rival, Marine Le Pen, despite a last-minute new movement isn’t like socialism, an ideology cal children. leak of documents stolen from his campaign by that can be categorically rejected at the ballot box. The New Yorker suspected Russian hackers. The result, which fol- It’s a set of incoherent “feelings, frustrations, and Q The total number of lowed recent defeats for nationalist candidates in sentiments”—a validation of “the people.” The refugees admitted to the Austria and the Netherlands, is welcome proof identity of “the people” will change over time, but U.S. has dropped sharply that populism isn’t an unstoppable force. Call it populism as a political force is here to stay. this year, even though fed- the President Trump effect, said Frida Ghitis in eral courts have blocked CNN.com. More than 80 percent of French voters Those celebrating Macron’s impressive victory President Trump’s attempts view our commander in chief unfavorably, making shouldn’t get carried away, said Anne Applebaum to temporarily suspend the them less inclined to support their own angry out- in The Washington Post. Still, it’s worth consider- nation’s refugee program. sider. Trump, who offered Le Pen his tacit backing, ing how the former investment banker won. “He The U.S. accepted 2,070 “has become a liability for nationalists.” offered no impossible schemes or unattainable refugees in March, less riches” and told voters what they needed to hear than half the total admitted “It is far, far too early to declare victory against instead of what they wanted to be told. That, during that month in 2015. pop ulism,” said Yascha Mounk in . surely, is the key to countering populism. Rather USA Today Slate.com Le Pen won more than a third of the vote—a record than “mourning” the normalization of nationalists high for a French far-right candidate—and her sup- like Trump and Le Pen, the political center needs port was “strongest among the young.” Macron’s to confront their “toxic appeal” head-on. Hillary Clinton: Playing the blame game It’s the new Democratic Party mantra: “Hillary Polling data shows that the effect of Comey’s let- Clinton would have won if it weren’t for that ter was immediate, sinking Clinton’s lead from darn FBI,” said David French in NationalReview roughly 6 points on Oct. 28 to roughly 3 points a .com. That line got trotted out again last week week later. Even if we attribute only 1 percent of when Clinton spoke at a women’s conference in that shift to Comey—a conservative estimate—she Q President Trump was New York City and insisted she took “absolute lost the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and the subject of 1,060 jokes personal responsibility” for her 2016 defeat. Only Wisconsin by less than 1 percent. That means we by late-night TV hosts in his first 100 days in office. she doesn’t. Because moments later the former can say with some certainty that “the Comey let- Barack Obama was the Democratic candidate moaned that she was on her ter probably cost Clinton the election.” target of 936 jokes during way to winning when, on Oct. 28, then–FBI boss that time frame, George James Comey scared away voters with a letter to It’s possible, said Nate Cohn in NYTimes.com. W. Bush of 546, and Bill Congress saying he’d reopened the investigation But many of those polls that showed a tighten- Clinton of 440. into her private email server. “If the election had ing of the race after Comey’s letter were actually Variety been on Oct. 27,” she said, “I would be your pres- based on interviews conducted before he sent it. ident.” For good measure, Clinton also blamed Whatever the explanation, “it’s now clear that Q A baby born in the U.S. “misogyny” and Russian interference, said Ed Clinton was weaker heading into Oct. 28 than in 2014 can expect to live 79 years on average. Rogers in Washington Post.com . Never mind that was understood at the time.” Comey’s letter But depending on which among white working-class voters women as well clearly did some damage to Clinton’s chances, county a child is born in, as men broke decisively for Donald Trump. The said Josh Barro in BusinessInsider.com. But so life expectancy can vary simple truth, which Clinton can’t accept, is that what? Nothing the former FBI boss did explains by two decades, ranging she lost because she “had no economic message at why tens of millions of working-class voters aban- from a low of 67 years a time of great economic anxiety.” doned the Democratic Party for a Republican plu- in Oglala Lakota County, tocrat who wants to slash taxes on the wealthy. S.D., to a high of 87 years Actually, she’s right, said Nate Silver in FiveThirty The “most productive” questions for Democrats, in Summit County, Colo. Eight.com. Comey’s letter may not have been “the as they plan for the next election, “are the ones Qz.com most important factor in Clinton’s defeat,” but it’s about what they did wrong, not about what mis-

probably “the one we can be most certain about.” fortunes befell them.” Getty Newscom,

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Talking points NEWS 17

FBI: The translator who married a terrorist Wit & It’s like something out of “the hit TV the so-called caliphate. She fled series Homeland,” said Josie Ensor Syria and was arrested two days Wisdom in Telegraph.co.uk. In 2014, an FBI after arriving back in the U.S.— “The most courageous act translator with a top-secret security ultimately serving two years in is still to think for yourself. clearance was assigned to investigate prison for lying to the FBI. That Aloud.” Coco Chanel, quoted in an ISIS fighter. Instead, Czech-born lenient sentence has raised ques- The New York Times contractor Daniela Greene, 38, tions about whether Greene was “turned rogue,” a CNN investi- given special treatment by pros- “To a lot of people, gation has revealed—leaving her ecutors. “Even failed attempts to a perk is the bathroom American husband and traveling to travel to Syria and join ISIS have key. But to me, the real perk is freedom.” Syria to marry the jihadist. Greene earned defendants much stiffer Real estate billionaire had been “tasked with keeping tabs prison sentences”—averaging Sam Zell, quoted in The Wall on Denis Cuspert,” a 41-year-old around 13½ years, according to Street Journal former German rapper who moved one analysis. “You know, it’s a terrible to Syria and made influential ISIS ISIS recruiter Cuspert thing to appear on televi- recruitment videos, including one Prosecutors sought a shorter sion, because people think in which he held a severed human head, said sentence because Greene fully cooperated, said you actually know what Justin Ling in Vice.com. During the investigation, Tresa Baldas in the Detroit Free Press, likely giv- you’re talking about.” Greene somehow fell in love with Cuspert and ing them vital information about Cuspert and his Naturalist David Attenborough, quoted in the got in touch with him, probably over Skype. Not fellow ISIS fighters. Months after Greene pleaded Independent.co.uk long after, she told the FBI she was traveling to guilty, Cuspert reportedly survived an airstrike Germany to see her family, and instead flew to near the Syrian city of Raqqa. Generally, the FBI “Resist the urge to grow a Turkey and slipped across the border into ISIS ter- is in a tricky situation with translators. Linguists shell. Don’t let fear convince ritory. But 11 days after marrying Cuspert, Greene do crucial work, but many are foreign-born and you that hardness is good.” Novelist Celeste Ng, quoted in apparently had a change of heart. “I really made a “hard to properly vet.” Greene herself seems to the San Francisco Chronicle mess of things this time,” she wrote in an email. deeply regret her behavior, said Dean Reynolds in CBSNews.com. In court documents, the former “Perhaps a person only This whole bizarre incident “exposes an embar- translator—who now works in a hotel lounge— has two real residences: the childhood home and rassing breach of national security at the FBI,” describes herself as “weak,” while her attorney the grave.” said Scott Glover in CNN.com. Greene’s entry claims she was just a naïve woman who got in Novelist Valeria Luiselli, into Syria likely required the approval of top ISIS way over her head. “Love,” it seems, “can make quoted in RollingStone.com leaders. As it was, she lasted just over a month in you do strange things.” “Education is what sur- vives when what has been learned has been forgotten.” Psychologist B.F. Skinner, Religious liberty: Parsing Trump’s promises quoted in Heavy.com “People of faith are heartened” by President gay marriage or gay rights.” Nevertheless, it “still Trump’s latest effort to protect religious freedom, opens the door to policies that will erode the wall “If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t said Jim Campbell in TheHill.com. After vow- between church and state,” said Stephanie Russell- live some other life; you ing during the campaign to make religious liberty Kraft in NewRepublic.com. The order explicitly won’t live any life at all.” his “first priority,” Trump marked last week’s affirms the notion that religious liberty is “‘Ameri- James Baldwin, quoted in National Day of Prayer by signing an executive cans’ first freedom,’ as if all other freedoms—such BrainPickings.org order that instructs the IRS not to enforce the as equal protection under the law—are second- Johnson Amendment—a 1954 rule denying tax- ary.” Trump also appears to give Attorney General exempt status to religious organizations that back Jeff Sessions wide latitude to invoke the 1993 Poll watch political candidates. Trump also directed federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which “has Q 39% of Americans be- agencies to consider “amended regulations” to become a legal weapon used by the religious lieve that the House GOP’s exempt religious groups from the Obamacare con- right”—as it was last year when a federal judge new American Health traception mandate. Although Trump’s defense of ruled that the act protected a Michigan funeral Care Act will likely be religious liberty was one that “many conservatives home that fired a transgender employee. worse than the Affordable have longed to hear,” some faith groups confessed Care Act, while 26% think they’d hoped for more substantive legal protec- If Trump cared about people of faith, he would it will be an improvement. tions; the Johnson Amendment is rarely enforced, do the “statutory and regulatory work that truly Just 8% say they strongly after all, and exemptions from the contraception protects religious liberty,” said David French in favor the bill, with 34% mandate already exist. But let’s see “what Trump’s NationalReview.com. Executive orders are flimsy strongly opposed. administration does with the vision” he has cast. and ephemeral—“freedom must be written into Huffington Post/YouGov law, not wish-cast through commands that a Q 54% of Americans think Liberals should be relieved, said Noah Feldman later president can reverse.” If evangelicals hadn’t that President Trump has in Bloomberg.com. For months, progressives turned out for him, our president would be “plot- made no progress on his and LGBT groups feared Trump would use this ting the comeback of Trump Steaks.” It’s time for goal of changing the way order to exempt religious conservatives from faith leaders to tell Trump to start pushing for real Washington works. anti-discrimination laws. But the watered-down legislation. “The nation’s first liberty demands Gallup

Getty final document that Trump signed is “silent on more respect—and more protection.”

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 18 NEWS Technology

Social media: Keeping horrors off Facebook “Imagine putting up with your commute, variation of ‘Someone has to do it.’” Face- heading into work, and sitting in a cubicle book and other companies are investing watching murders, child abuse, drug use, heavily in artificial intelligence that would and suicides all day,” said Mike Murphy make the job of content moderation less in Qz.com. That’s the job Facebook is dependent on humans. The company now hiring for after a string of horrific videos uses a database of known child pornogra- appeared on the social network in recent phy, for instance, to automatically remove weeks. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged some posts. But the technology still largely to hire 3,000 more people to monitor the relies on human judgment to differentiate site for disturbing content, in addition to the between, say, an action movie and a video 4,500 workers who already investigate vid- of a real-life shooting. “Right now, there eos reported by users. Having more modera- CEO Zuckerberg is hiring more moderators. simply is no psychologically ‘safe’ way to tors should help the social network spot and keep Facebook clean.” take down the worst videos much more quickly, like the grisly video that appeared on Facebook Live last month of a man in It’s good that Facebook is finally doing something, said Emily Thailand killing his 11-month-old daughter and then commit- Dreyfuss in Wired.com. “But what if such reflections had taken ting suicide. But while Facebook’s nearly 2 billion users may be place more meaningfully before pushing video so heavily on the spared such horrors, what about the 7,500 workers whose job it site?” Surely the social network could have anticipated that, is to regularly watch the worst of humanity? with so many users, it was inevitable that a few deranged people would use Facebook Live to broadcast acts of violence. Maybe “It is well documented that these jobs are, psychologically Facebook should hire an in-house ethicist to work through the speaking, among the worst in tech,” said Jason Koebler in Vice implications of its products before they launch, rather than after. .com. Unbeknown to many users, armies of contract workers Maybe it’s also time to start regulating Facebook as we do the are responsible for keeping all manner of terrible images off the public airwaves, said Cale Guthrie Weissman in FastCompany web’s most popular sites, and they typically work long hours for .com. Facebook has long insisted that it’s not a media company, low pay. Many of those workers have described suffering serious but “if such acts of violence happened that often on your local psychological damage from the images they’ve seen. Yet, “when TV news broadcast, that station would probably be taken off asked why they accept such jobs, most moderators utter some the air and face hefty fines.”

Innovation of the week Bytes: What’s new in tech

“It used to Twitter wants to be cable who took advantage of insecure internet be that secu- Twitter is trying to reinvent itself as a place connections and weak passwords. Research- rity systems to watch live video, said Makeda Easter in ers were even able to break into one of the could protect the Los Angeles Times. The social network robots to slightly alter its programming. The only what recently inked a deal with Bloomberg Media to team hacked a robot programmed to draw a was right in stream around-the-clock video news, alongside straight line so that it would be off by 2 milli- front of them,” content from a dozen other partners featuring meters. That’s troubling, because “if a robot said Geoffrey Fowler in The events like live sports and concerts. Twitter’s makes a car part that’s altered just a few mil- Wall Street Journal. But Aura, a new programming will include a weekly live limeters from its original design, it could cause $500 home security system, can stream of WNBA games, a morning news the vehicle to malfunction and crash.” “see” through walls and around cor- show produced by BuzzFeed News, and a ners so you don’t have to fill your weekly gadget-review show from technology Is online grounding too harsh? house with cameras or place motion and culture site TheVerge.com. Entertainment Grounding kids from using social media might sensors near every door. The device company Live Nation also “plans to stream be a tougher punishment than parents realize, spots intruders through disruptions concerts exclusively on Twitter.” Twitter has said Hayley Tsukayama in The Washington in the invisible radio waves that Post. Teens under such restrictions “lose more make up your home’s Wi-Fi network. already been ramping up its video content as it “These are like ripples in a pond, tries to lure new users to the service. than just a few days gossiping with friends,” flowing through walls and bouncing according to a new study by the University of around in pretty regular patterns, Hacking industrial robots Chicago. Teenagers who were forced to take a until something—or someone—gets “Like anything that’s connected to the inter- break from social media—38 percent of those in the way.” Aura’s software is smart net, robots, too, have become vulnerable to surveyed—“were more likely to report being enough to differentiate normal hackers,” said April Glaser in Recode.net . anxious about being away from social media.” disruptions—like a spinning fan or Researchers at cybersecurity firm Trend Micro They were also likely to post even more when family pet—from potential threats, say they have found major weaknesses in the they were allowed back online. Grounding kids but it can still be tripped up by a home’s layout or an especially active industrial robots built by five major manu- from the web doesn’t just cut into their social Fido. Also, unlike security cameras, facturers: ABB, Fanuc, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, life, say the study’s authors, but also limits “it won’t produce photographic evi- and Yaskawa. The machines, which are their sources of news and emotional support, dence for the cops.” used to make everything from smartphones as well as access to messages from teachers

to airplanes, were easily hacked by testers, and coaches about practices and assignments. AP

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 PURE AGRIBUSINESS

When it comes to growing food and businesses, there’s one state that’s got the perfect climate for both. Michigan. Our weather patterns and soil variety help us grow everything from cherries to Christmas trees. Our food and agriculture industries contribute over $101 billion to the state’s economy. Which makes Michigan a top pick for your agribusiness.

michiganbusiness.org 20 NEWS Health & Science

Arctic warming far faster than thought The Arctic is warming more than twice as tions that if greenhouse gas emissions fast as the rest of the planet, speeding the continue on current trends, global sea melting of polar ice and causing global levels will rise at least 29 inches by 2100— sea levels to rise higher and more rapidly almost double the minimum estimate than previously predicted. That’s the wor- by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on rying conclusion of a landmark new study Climate Change. Experts say a feedback by over 90 leading climate scientists, loop is accelerating warming. Sunlight is who warn that the rapid thaw will have reflected by ice and snow, but as the polar “major consequences for ecosystems ice melts, more heat from the sun’s rays and society.” The study for the intergov- is absorbed by newly exposed areas of ernmental Arctic Council notes that from the Arctic Ocean, which in turn becomes 2011 to 2015 temperatures in the region warmer and melts more ice. Rising sea Less Arctic sea ice means higher global sea levels. increased at a faster rate than at any temperatures could alter the jet stream, Rafe Pomerance tells Nature.com. “The time since records began around 1900. It triggering extreme weather changes fate of [the region] has to be moved out projects the Arctic Ocean will be nearly across North America, Europe, and Asia. of the world of scientific observation and free of summer sea ice by 2030 and cau- “The Arctic is unraveling,” conservationist into the world of government policy.”

their cognitive reflection. too little tended to suffer because they Questions included this head- failed to take basic health precautions, scratcher: “A bat and a ball such as applying sunscreen or wearing a cost $1.10 in total. The bat seat belt. But the studies suggested that a costs $1 more than the ball. moderate amount of worry could moti- How much does the ball vate people to plan ahead, find solutions cost?” The incorrect “gut” to problems, and prepare for challenges. response is 10 cents; the cor- One example: People who worry a little rect answer, which people but not too much are more likely to go generally come to only after a for cancer screenings than those with low Taking a close-up of Saturn and its rings bit of thought, is 5 cents. The or high levels of apprehension. “It seems men who received testoster- that both too much and too little worry Cassini’s ‘Grand Finale’ one answered about 20 per- can interfere with motivation,” lead author After logging 20 years and 4.1 billion cent fewer questions correctly in the tests— Kate Sweeny tells LiveScience.com. “But miles in space, the Cassini spacecraft last which were coupled with a basic math task the right amount of worry can motivate week took the first step in its final mis- to control for arithmetic skills—than those without paralyzing.” sion: a daring 77,000 mph dive between in the placebo group. They also gave their Saturn and its rings of dust, rocks, and answers more hastily. Report co-author Health scare of the week ice. NASA scientists back on Earth had Colin Camerer, a behavioral economist at Diabetes harms the brain braced for a bumpy ride, expecting to the California Institute of Technology, says Diabetes may have an adverse effect on hear pops and cracks as dust particles hit this disparity may be because testosterone the brain, especially in overweight people, the unmanned probe. But Cassini’s plunge boosts confidence, which could eliminate reports The New York Times. An interna- was eerily quiet, suggesting the 1,200-mile the self-doubt that prompts people to re- tional team of scientists compared 100 peo- gap is virtually devoid of debris. “The evaluate their decisions. “The testosterone ple with type 2 diabetes—half of whom region between the rings and Saturn is ‘the is either inhibiting the process of mentally were overweight—to 50 healthy people of big empty,’ apparently,” Cassini project checking your work,” he tells ScienceDaily normal weight. All the participants under- manager Earl Maize tells Space.com. The .com, “or increasing the intuitive feeling went MRI brain scans and completed tests emptiness was a welcome discovery, as that ‘I’m definitely right.’” that assessed their memory, reaction times, NASA will no longer have to use Cassini’s and thinking skills. The researchers found antenna as a shield against potential debris. The upside to worrying that participants with diabetes scored The spacecraft has already performed a Worrywarts are often chided for always lower on the cognitive tests than those second dive; it will do 20 more before run- thinking the worst, but new research sug- without the condition, and had signifi- ning out of fuel and burning up in Saturn’s gests a healthy dose of apprehension could cantly thinner gray matter in parts of the atmosphere in September. Scientists hope actually be a good thing. Scientists at the brain involved in key functions, including this “Grand Finale” mission will reveal University of California, planning and concentration. These effects clues about the origins of the planet’s rings Riverside analyzed sev- were most severe among the diabetics who and help them learn more about Saturn’s eral dozen previously were overweight, suggesting the two health clouds, gravity, and magnetic fields. published studies issues have cumulative harmful effects on on the issue. the brain. The study’s co-author, Donald Why men are impulsive They found Simonson of Brigham and Women’s Testosterone makes men less likely to think that people Hospital in Boston, says these effects before they act, a new study has found. who wor- are likely irreversible. “On the posi- Researchers gave 243 mostly college-age ried too much tive side,” he notes, “patients who male volunteers a dose of testosterone gel risked becoming depressed maintain good control of their dia- or a placebo, then asked them to com- or paralyzed with fear, betes do seem to have a slower rate

plete a short, untimed test that assessed while those who worried of deterioration.” (2), Getty NASA

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Pick of the week’s cartoons NEWS 21

For more political cartoons, visit: www.theweek.com/cartoons. THE WEEK May 19, 2017 22 ARTS Review of reviews: Books

future Attorney General Eric Holder, then Book of the week U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Locking Up Our Own: championed what was essentially “a version of ‘driving while black’ policing,” Crime and Punishment urging cops to find guns by making more in Black America misdemeanor traffic stops in black neigh- by James Forman Jr. borhoods. Forman taps his public defender (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27) files to illustrate the human cost of such tactics: a woman who lost her job over This “superb and shattering” book should a minor marijuana charge; a promising cause a lot of people to rethink how our 15-year-old pulled from school and locked criminal justice system got so far off track, away because he was caught carrying a said Jennifer Senior in The New York handgun for protection. Times. For several years, Yale law professor James Forman Jr. had a front-row seat Mass incarceration: Good intentions gone awry? Fortunately, the age of mass incarceration on the damage done to black communities may be waning, said Charles Lane in The by tough-on-crime policies, and that seat Whether black or white, the public officials Washington Post. Many obstacles remain, enabled him to recognize that in many cit- who pushed for tougher enforcement were though, and President Trump has promised ies, the enforcers of those policies were often responding to reasonable fears, said Rich- an aggressive law-and-order response to a black, too. Forman, whose father was a ard Thomp son Ford in the San Fran cisco troubling recent uptick in urban homicides. civil rights legend, worked in the 1990s as a Chronicle. Beginning in the 1960s, drugs But as Forman’s “beautifully written” nar- public defender in Washington, D.C., a city began flowing into minority communities— rative underscores, state and local officials whose black political leaders enthusiastically first heroin, then PCP and crack cocaine— have more real power to shape America’s embraced the same policies that resulted in and an accompanying flow of guns made criminal justice system, and in response to the mass incarceration of young black men matters worse. Black leaders described citizens’ concerns about abusive policing nationwide. In D.C. and similar places, the local drug dealers as traitors to the achieve- and excessive sentences, they’ve lately been intent was to help black neighborhoods, ments of the civil rights movement, and using their power constructively. “Those not devastate them. That’s what makes they passed zero-tolerance laws and strict efforts can and should continue, whatever Forman’s story “tragic to the bone.” sentencing minimums. In the 1990s, the might happen next in Washington.”

Between Them: Ford’s father poses the greater challenge, Novel of the week Remembering My Parents said William Pritchard in The Boston The Last Neanderthal by Richard Ford Globe. Because he traveled, Parker was home only on weekends as Richard was by Claire Cameron (Ecco, $26) growing up in Jackson, Miss., and he died (Little, Brown, $26) “Who were Parker of a heart attack when his only son was just The Last Neanderthal “could easily be and Edna Ford?” 16. Imagination thus fills in some blanks, the first of a new, compelling genre of asked Trine Tsou- and the most vivid pages of Between Them prehistoric fiction,” said Lydia Pyne in the deros in the Chicago conjure what life on the road was like for Los Angeles Review of Books. Though Tribune. You would Parker and Edna before Richard’s 1944 other novels have featured early homi- be forgiven for not birth. Parker, we’re told, was “a large nids, none has built an absorbing drama knowing—or for man—soft, heavy-seeming, smiling widely around such a believable Neanderthal thinking you have no character. “Girl” still lives with her family as if he knew a good joke.” Though the need for the answer. author knows much more about his mother, as the story begins, but when an unsanc- But because Parker tioned pregnancy forces her into exile, his writing about her is less interesting she treks south with her adoptive brother, and Edna were the except in moments. When she leaves him at a human foundling, to find a new home. parents of novelist college, their parting provides perhaps the In an interwoven tale, a modern archae- Richard Ford, “a book’s most poignant scene. ologist is studying Girl, and the ques- writer of enormous skill and compassion,” tions her research inspires “create a rich they will become important to you if you “But a memoir shouldn’t be a conveyor counterpoint to the moment-by-moment give their story a chance. Ford, a Pulitzer belt of recollections,” said William Giraldi story of Girl in the forest,” said Emily Gray Prize winner, “has not tried to build them in The Washington Post. Ford does man- Tedrowe in USA Today. The archaeolo- up to be more important or remarkable age to impart a few scraps of wisdom, but gist also becomes pregnant, and when than they likely were.” Parker was a trav- through most of this 175-page “wisp of a Cameron provides vivid accounts of both eling salesman from Arkansas; Edna was book,” he almost resists offering insights. characters’ experiences of labor and his spirited traveling companion for the Of course, “it’s only in fiction that a writer birth, “we realize with a sweet shock” 15 years before motherhood forced her to has the luxury of omniscience,” said Cheryl how little that primal experience has settle down. They remained madly in love Strayed in The New York Times. Rather changed. Girl’s species is nearing extinc- tion as the “vivid and melancholy” drama with each other, Ford tells us. Yet he mostly than pretend he knows more about his par- unfolds, but it’s obvious that we still have engages our interest by inspiring reflection ents than he does, Ford has shared “deep, much in common 40,000 years later. on why even loving parents are so hard for attentive wondering about them,” a won-

their children to fully know. dering that brings them “palpably to life.” Getty

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 The Book List ARTS 23

Best books...chosen by Pamela Paul Author of the week Pamela Paul is the editor of The New York Times Book Review and author of the new memoir My Life With Bob, in which “Bob” is another name for her “Book of Édouard Louis Books,” a log of every book she’s read. Below, Paul names six favorite memoirs. France’s literary boy wonder is now also looking like a The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean- Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin (Farrar, political prophet, said Rhett Dominique Bauby (Vintage, $15). This slender Straus & Giroux, $17). Trillin, commonly Morgan in Kirkus Reviews. miracle of a book was blinked out by its author, thought of as a humorist, writes here about Édouard Louis was just 21 the former editor of Elle magazine in France, one of his Yale classmates, a golden boy who when The End of Eddy, his after a stroke at age 43 left him paralyzed except graduated in 1957 seemingly destined for a life autobiographical novel about for his left eye. The book will change your per- of accomplishment and contentment. Instead, growing up gay in a poor ception of the space between life and death, and Denny Hansen grew isolated and depressed, French vil- the human capacity for imagination. and committed suicide at 55. Trillin examines lage, created Denny’s life to understand why. a sensation. Wild Swans by Jung Chang (Touchstone, Some critics $18). Chang, a biographer, here focuses on three A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard (Simon & compared generations of her family: her grandmother, con- Schuster, $16). I don’t follow tabloid stories Louis to cubine to a Manchurian warlord; her mother, a and didn’t follow Dugard’s. But I picked up her Karl Ove Communist official; and herself, a one-time Red memoir about being held for years by a kidnap- Knausgaard Guard who abandoned Communism. Through per after Times critic Janet Maslin wrote a rave and Elena the horror and tragedy of their experiences, Jung review calling the book “brave, dignified, and Ferrante; others groused that captures the history of 20th-century China. painstakingly honest.” It is worth reading for the virulent homophobia Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala (Vintage, $15). anyone who read Emma Donoghue’s Room and and racism depicted in the book couldn’t possibly reflect In one sudden, vast sweep of water, the 2004 still wondered, “What was that really like?” what people in postindustrial Indian Ocean tsunami claimed the lives of Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn (Picador, northern France are like. But Deraniyagala’s parents, husband, and two $17.50). This is not a memoir, but highly auto- the rise of anti-immigrant young sons, leaving her alone to deal with the biographical fiction. The novel takes place on populist Marine Le Pen, who shock, grief, guilt, and anger. Deraniyagala, an a single afternoon in which a young boy is was backed by 34 percent of economist, is fierce, brave, and unsparing; what neglected, misunderstood, and then, in a heart- voters in this week’s French emerges is an unsentimental yet deeply affecting stopping scene, brutally abused by his father. presidential election, has portrait of unimaginable loss. You will weep. lately made Louis look like a valuable ground-level observer. “Suddenly every- Also of interest...in storied waterways one wanted to ask me about the extreme right,” says Where the Water Goes The Water Kingdom Louis. “I said, ‘Oh, really? I by David Owen (Riverhead, $28) by Philip Ball (Univ. of Chicago, $27.50) thought I was exaggerating.’” David Owen’s “wonderfully written” Philip Ball’s latest book “puts water The End of Eddy, now avail- history of the Colorado River describes back beautifully at the heart of China’s able in English, hasn’t turned so many stresses on the river it may story,” said The Economist. Ball, a Louis into a hometown hero, cause your head to hurt, said Bill science writer, focuses on the Yangtze said John Sunyer in the Streever in The Wall Street Journal. and Yellow rivers, showing how the Financial Times. He embar- “But it is a good headache, one that two great, untamable waterways rassed the village by describ- makes you a more informed person.” Among the have shaped the nation and its art, literature, and ing his alter ego being beaten New Yorker contributor’s more striking findings politics. Like those rivers, the book meanders and up and spat on at school, is that thanks to drought and a 168-year-old legal “twists around in spirals,” but “that is its charm.” and he upset some family quirk, there is less water in the river than would Strong as it is on current engineering challenges, members by portraying Eddy be needed to meet all claims on it. Fortunately, it’s “at its most fascinating” when describing how growing up in abject poverty. After the book’s publication, some stakeholders are rising to the challenge. rivers have shaped even China’s moral codes. Louis’ brother made physi- The Gulf The Death and Life of the Great Lakes cal threats that briefly sent the author into hiding. But by Jack E. Davis (Liveright, $30) by Dan Egan (Norton, $28) though the father in the book Jack Davis’ elegant 500-page history Alas, the Great Lakes may never again is a heavy drinker and animal of life on the Gulf of Mexico is “des- be as great as they were 100 years abuser who abhors his son’s tined to be admired and cited,” said ago, said Eva Holland in The Globe effeminacy, Louis’ father William Cobb in The Dallas Morning and Mail (Canada). As journalist Dan chose to celebrate his son’s success. Says Louis, “He News. The environmental historian Egan reveals in this “vitally impor- phoned me and said, ‘I’m so begins his account in the Ice Age, tant” book, the lakes’ fragile ecosys- proud of you.’ He told me he focusing on how the world’s ninth-largest sea has tem has been devastated by invasive species since had bought 20 copies of the nourished successive waves of coastal inhabitants, the St. Lawrence Seaway increased ship traffic. book to give to his friends. from paleo-Indians to today’s oil workers. Davis’ “A lively writer,” Egan tells each invasion story Which was a big deal, encyclopedic approach proves “a bit exhausting.” through the eyes of people on the ground, creat- because there were no books But his book is “chock-full” of fun facts, vivid ing “an accessible, even gripping narrative” about in my house growing up.”

Earl Wilson, John Folley Wilson, John Earl storytelling, and “impeccable” prose. the unforeseen costs of human progress.

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 24 ARTS Review of reviews: Film & Music

Manifesto “Manifesto is an art film in the Callahan in TheWrap.com. The truest sense,” said Peter Debruge contrast between the characters’ Directed by in Variety. An out-there work words and the context in which Julian Rosefeldt that asks Cate Blanchett to Blanchett speaks them gener- (Not rated) assume 13 different guises as ates most of the entertainment, ++++ she recites a string of art and and she earns her biggest laughs political manifestos, it proves delivering a dadaist mission Cate Blanchett roasts “compulsively watchable” statement as an angry funeral art’s revolutionaries. against all odds. Though it never eulogy. In another scene, she’s a shows disrespect for the vision- Blanchett as a dance tyrant stern Eastern European chore- aries being quoted, it reminds ographer giving dancers imprac- us “there’s something inherently humorous” about ticable directions: “Strangle crate boxes” or “Make people trying to shake up the status quo by declaim- railway mist.” Is Manifesto a celebration of artists’ ing their beliefs. Blanchett plays a hobo shouting earnestness or a parody? asked Amy Zimmerman in from a rooftop, a high-speed securities trader, a TheDailyBeast.com. The possible interpretations are scientist, a sanitation worker, and a CEO, and she endless, and that may be the point. Manifesto “begs “uses her talent as she never has before,” said Dan questions instead of answering them.”

Chuck Liev Schreiber’s new boxing that’s the story Chuck tells, movie has much in common “more dutifully than artfully,” Directed by with its flawed hero: “a lot of over its final hour, said Chris Philippe Falardeau personality, just enough ambi- Klimek in NPR.org. Playing (R) tion, more interested in a good Wepner’s scorned second wife, ++++ time than a lasting impression,” Elisabeth Moss “gives an object said Robert Abele in the Los lesson in how a top-tier actor can The real-life Rocky lets Angeles Times. Schreiber stars make so-so writing shine.” But fame go to his head. as Chuck Wepner, the galoot she’s pushed aside when Wepner from Bayonne, N.J., who in Schreiber (right) with Jim Gaffigan lands in prison, then pursues 1975 lasted 15 rounds against another lover (Naomi Watts). Muhammad Ali. That improbable bout inspired However rote the plot gets, Schreiber buoys each Sylvester Stallone to make Rocky a year later, but scene he’s in, said Joe McGovern in Entertainment there’s more to the story, and Schreiber “gives Weekly. In that, the casting couldn’t have been more Wepner’s rise and fall an earthy, human-size appeal.” apt: “He’s one of the most underappreciated actors Fame and its temptations unraveled Wepner, and playing a guy who never got enough respect.”

Chris Stapleton Alice Coltrane Blondie From a Room: Volume 1 The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Pollinator ++++ ++++ ++++ “Chris Stapleton is When Alice Coltrane There’s “almost a the superstar modern fully committed her life charm” in the way country deserves,” to Hindu spiritualism Blondie works so hard said Craig Jenkins in the early 1980s, she to stay musically rel- in NYMag.com . The didn’t put her earlier evant, said Stephen 39-year-old Kentuckian calling aside. The jazz Thomas Erlewine in is “a true-blue tradition- pianist, harpist, and AllMusic.com. The third alist with a voice that since deceased widow album in the past seven could melt stone,” which is why Traveller, of John Coltrane regularly played devotional years from the punk-era New York hitmak- his 2015 debut, was catnip to listeners music at an ashram outside Los Angeles, ers brings aboard a crowd of splashy guest who don’t like all the feel-good anthems and this first taste of what she recorded songwriters and performers, including Sia, that crowd today’s country charts. His there is “astounding,” said Hua Hsu in Joan Jett, Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, the follow-up—the first of two albums he’ll The New Yorker. “Om Rama,” the opening Strokes’ Nick Valensi, the Smiths’ Johnny release this year—is a “stark and almost track, is “all handclaps, tambourines, and Marr, and TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek. uniformly sad” nine-song set. But its down- chants”—until an ascending chord sweeps “That’s a lot of cooks, so it’s not a surprise cast mood “doesn’t starve it of dynamic the frenzy away and Coltrane’s organ begins that Pollinator can sometimes seem over- range,” and “not a note feels misspent.” a stately procession. Frequently she uses heated,” rarely changing pace across its Every track reminds us that Stapleton was keyboards to create “surging, swelling” 11 tracks. “That said, the sheets of synths a songwriter first and remains “a coun- soundscapes under Sanskrit chants. Instead and sly nods to the group’s disco-punk past try guy with a soul singer’s heart.” On of following Indian traditions, Coltrane “cre- don’t seem desperate.” Each guest writer the single “Either Way,” about a broken ated something wholly new,” said Anastasia pays homage to the classic Blondie sound relationship, Stapleton’s voice “packs the Tsioulcas in NPR.org. Her “deeply reso- while giving Debbie Harry new melodies potency of a cyclone,” said Walter Tunis in nant” singing voice, rarely heard before, to sing, said Jim Farber in Entertainment the Lexington, Ky., Herald-Leader. Yet the blends with those of her followers as she Weekly. At 71, the new wave icon “still album doesn’t bottom out emotionally until weaves in gospel cadences she learned in infuses her performances with maximum “Death Row,” a prisoner’s self-eulogy set to the churches of her Detroit youth. Whenever attitude,” and if Pollinator is essentially a slow, “doomsday groove.” You won’t be she touches her synthesizer, the music is a Blondie self-tribute album, who cares?

hearing that one on country radio. “lifted straight into the cosmic stratosphere.” “They deserve it after all these years.” Sarah Shatz/IFC Films Rosefeldt, Julian

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Television ARTS 25

Movies on TV The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

Monday, May 15 Year Million Midnight Express As technology sprints forward, it is rapidly A U.S. tourist arrested for redefining human life as we’ve known it. This attempted drug smug- six-part series gathers visionary thinkers includ- gling plots his escape from ing futurist Ray Kurzweil, theoretical physicist a hellish Turkish prison. Michio Kaku, and musical innovator David Oliver Stone won an Oscar Byrne to explore what being human may look for the screenplay. (1978) like when human and artificial intelligence 10 p.m., Sundance become indistinguishable, when androids are like Tuesday, May 16 siblings, and when immortality is real. Laurence The Man Who Knew Infinity Fishburne narrates. Monday, May 15, at 9 p.m., Dev Patel plays Srinivasa National Geographic Channel Ramanujan, a real-life autodidact who overcame Mommy Dead and Dearest De Niro as Madoff: An enigmatic sociopath poverty in India to become To friends, doctors, and even family, Dee Dee a world-renowned math- Blancharde appeared to be a doting mother to surprise that her family life was built entirely on ematician. With Jeremy her sickly, wheelchair-bound daughter, Gypsy Bernie’s lies. Saturday, May 20, at 8 p.m., HBO Irons. (2016) 5:30 p.m., Rose. But when Dee Dee was murdered and Showtime Gypsy was found two states away and able to Masterpiece: Dark Angel Her murders weren’t as gruesome, but Mary Ann Wednesday, May 17 walk on her own, authorities had a web of lies to untangle. In this riveting documentary, filmmaker Cotton racked up far more victims than Jack the The Revenant Ripper, the most famous Victorian serial killer. Leonardo DiCaprio finally Erin Lee Carr unfolds a disturbing crime story rooted in a mother’s mental illness. Monday, In this two-part drama series, Downton Abbey’s won his Oscar playing a Joanne Froggatt stars as the alluring Mary Ann, 19th-century fur trapper May 15, at 10 p.m., HBO a woman who made her way up in the world by who fights to survive in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt the wilderness after being attracting husbands and lovers and doing them Kimmy Schmidt is ready to start college as a new mauled by a bear. (2015) in, one by one, by lacing their tea with arsenic. 10 p.m., Cinemax season begins for Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s Begins Sunday, May 21, at 9 p.m., PBS; check sitcom about a sunny former cult member turned local listings Thursday, May 18 naïve New Yorker. Kimmy is also putting off Big Night signing the divorce papers recently sent to her by Other highlights Decline and Fall Two Italian immigrant her imprisoned former cult leader, the Reverend brothers bet the future of Richard Wayne Gary Wayne, while trying to Jack Whitehall and Eva Longoria star in an their flagging restaurant talk her gay roommate, Titus Andromedon, out entertaining adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s comic on a meal meant to dazzle novel about a divinity student who takes a job bandleader Louis Prima. of assuming his lover is cheating on him. Jon Hamm, Tituss Burgess, and the rest of the gang at a backwater school in Wales. Available for Stanley Tucci and Tony streaming Monday, May 15, Acorn TV Shalhoub co-star. (1996) all return to back the indefatigable Ellie Kemper. 10 p.m., Starz Available for streaming Friday, May 19, Netflix Tracy Morgan: Staying Alive Morgan, the former Saturday Night Live and Friday, May 19 The Wizard of Lies 30 Rock star, returns to standup with a set Lost Highway In 2008, the year of the global financial crisis, built around his near-fatal 2014 car accident. Bill Pullman and Patricia Bernie Madoff achieved a special kind of infamy. Available for streaming Tuesday, May 16, Netflix Arquette co-star in a darkly Now Robert De Niro plays the Ponzi schemer surreal David Lynch drama who bilked wealthy New Yorkers out of billions, Becoming Bond that has divided critics and De Niro delivers one of his best dramatic per- A documentary portrait of George Lazenby, a since its release. (1997) formances in many years. Michelle Pfeiffer, coming colorful actor who once played James Bond— 9 p.m., the Movie Channel off a lengthy acting hiatus, proves equally effec- in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Saturday, May 20 tive as Madoff’s wife, Ruth, a woman taken by Available for streaming Saturday, May 20, Hulu You Were Never Lovelier Fred Astaire is a down-on- his-luck dancer and Rita Show of the week Hayworth the Argentine Twin Peaks heiress who falls for him in Ever since David Lynch’s surreal serial drama this charming musical com- made a poorly received leap to the big screen edy. (1942) 10:15 p.m., TCM in 1992, devotees have wondered if the director might ever continue the mystery. The wait is Sunday, May 21 now over, as Lynch has readied an 18-episode The Year of Living series that sees FBI agent Dale Cooper return Dangerously to the fog-obscured Washington town where A journalist in Indonesia 25 years earlier he began investigating the falls for a British embassy murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. worker on the eve of a coup Kyle McLachlan again plays Cooper and will be attempt. Mel Gibson and surrounded by many original cast members, Sigourney Weaver co-star. including Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, and Sherilyn (1982) 10 p.m., TCM Diner stalwarts Mädchen Amick and Peggy Lipton Fenn. Sunday, May 21, at 9 p.m., Showtime HBO, Showtime HBO,

• All listings are Eastern Time. THE WEEK May 19, 2017 26 LEISURE Food & Drink

Omelets reconsidered: Three variations from around the globe “The perfect omelet can’t be rushed; it takes your hands until eggs are well blended. 30 minutes at least,” said the editors of Lucky Peach in All About Eggs (Clarkson Heat butter in a skillet over medium-high Potter). But omelets are made the world over heat and fry the egg mixture until it’s and in many, many ways, and the quick ver- browned and crispy on one side, about sions are as worthy of celebration as Daniel 3 minutes. Flip and cook until brown and Boulud’s time-consuming omelette farcie. crispy on second side, about 2 minutes. Makes 2 servings. The three simple but delicious examples below include a version created by 19th- Poulard omelet century French innkeeper Annette Poulard 3 eggs and another straight from the kitchen of a ¼ tsp salt Queens, N.Y.–born Jewish grandmother. The 1 tbsp butter first, a “deceptively complex” and wonder- Heat oven to 350. Crack eggs into a metal fully delicious variation, can be found “on Khai jiao: Thailand’s favorite egg dish bowl. Using a whisk, beat eggs for a few every menu in Thailand.” seconds. Add salt and whip vigorously, Remove and let drain. Serve with jasmine about 3 minutes, until eggs form creamy, Khai jiao rice. Makes 4 servings. Neutral oil, for frying soft peaks. Over medium-high heat, warm a 3 eggs Matzo brei seasoned 8- or 9-inch carbon-steel pan until 1 tsp fresh lime juice 2 sheets unsalted Streit’s matzo, broken into very hot, about 3 minutes. Continue beating 1 tsp fish sauce 1- to 2-inch pieces eggs so they don’t lose volume. Add butter to Pinch of sugar 2 eggs pan, swirl to coat, and pour in whipped eggs. 1 tsp chopped garlic chives Salt and black pepper Let cook, undisturbed, for 1 minute. Transfer 2 to 4 tbsp butter skillet to oven and bake for 2 minutes. Pour an inch of oil in a wok and heat to 350. While the oil is heating, beat eggs in a Soak the broken-up matzo in warm water Remove and return to medium-high heat bowl with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and (about 3 cups) until it gets kind of mushy, for about 1 minute, until bottom of omelet chives, until smooth. 3 to 5 minutes. Using a colander, squeeze is browned and releases from pan. Use an as much liquid out of the matzo as you offset spatula to slide the omelet halfway Drizzle eggs into hot oil and leave to fry until can without mashing up the natural flakes onto a large plate, then use pan’s edge to the bottom of the omelet is set and crispy, of the matzo. Transfer matzo to a clean fold omelet over itself on plate, allowing about 3 minutes. Flip omelet and continue bowl and crack eggs over it. Add salt and soft, souffléed filling to ooze out. Makes cooking until golden brown, 1 or 2 minutes. black pepper to taste. Mix ingredients with 1 or 2 servings.

Beer: New England IPAs Seafood dives: The best from coast to coast “Consumers have spoken,” and it no lon- “From California to Maine,” and “from the Great ger matters that New England IPAs may Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico,” this country’s coasts never win over India Pale Ale purists, are laden with laid-back shacks where the beer is said Jason and Todd Alström in BeerAd- cold, the seafood fresh, and the kitchen not afraid vocate. Hazy, juicy NEIPAs keep drawing to deep fry, said Steve Millburg in Coastal Living. crowds that camp out to score any top For 20 years, I’ve been visiting and writing about Northeastern producer’s new batch, and the best of them, and the time has come for the elsewhere, brewers are “jumping on the ultimate ranking. Sea N Suds of Gulf Shores, Ala., bandwagon at an incredible pace.” Here and The Marshall Store in Marshall, Calif.—an are three worthy of the chase: ideal spot for barbecued Tomales Bay oysters— Heady Topper Insiders no longer ip for made my top ive. Here, though, are the three the Vermont beer that started it greatest seafood dives of all time: Bowpicker: A fish ’n’ chips dream all, but it’s as wonderful as ever, Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough Noank, Conn. said The Boston Globe, tasting This 70-year-old family institution, whose picnic tables look out across Block Island of grapefruit rind and smelling Sound, “opened my mind to a whole new concept: the hot lobster roll.” A pile of like pine needles and cut grass. meat drenched in melted butter and served on a toasted hamburger bun, it’s a “life- Yojo IPA Easily our region’s beer changing” sandwich. 117 Pearl St., (860) 536-7719 of 2016, said the Sacramento Provision Company Southport, N.C. Southport is a “truly charming” town at the mouth Bee, this delicious IPA has made of the Cape Fear River, and it’s graced with a joint that gets the seafood-dive formula the brewery Moonraker an over- just right. “You eat peeled shrimp, you sip a cool beverage on a dock open to the sea night sensation. breeze, and you watch the boats glide by.” 130 Yacht Basin Drive, (910) 457-0654 M-43 This IPA saved Michigan’s Bowpicker Fish & Chips Astoria, Ore. Bowpicker is just an old ishing boat marooned Old Nation brewery last year, on dry land, and its customers climb up steps to place orders at the cabin for three to said the Detroit Free Press. It ive pieces of beer-battered tuna. “If you make transcendent albacore tuna ish-and- combines citrus-pineapple a- chips, then why bother with anything else?” Plus, the Columbia River is across the vors with a “pillowy” mouthfeel. street, and there’s room on its bank to sit and linger. 1634 Duane St., (503) 791-2942 Jason Fulford, Bowpicker Fish & Chips Bowpicker Fulford, Jason

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Travel LEISURE 27 This week’s dream: The Great American Eclipse of 2017 “Something happens when the sun and the magnetic field lines. It’s “one of the moon and your spot on Earth form a per- greatest wonders of totality.” fectly straight line,” said Bob Berman in Astronomy. Most people have never had Just before totality, when the sun is the eerie experience of witnessing a total reduced to a slim crescent, its light solar eclipse, when the midday sky grows changes dramatically, “as if we’re illu- dark and stars come out. It’s a rare phe- minated by a different kind of star.” Set nomenon. But this Aug. 21, for the first aside your filtered glasses during those time in 99 years, a total eclipse will sweep five to 10 minutes and look around. across the U.S. mainland from coast to “Cars, trees, buildings—the familiar coast. Everyone in America will see the sun now seems alien.” Colors become satu- at least partially obscured. But the path of rated. Contrast is heightened. The air totality—a 70-mile-wide band in which gets noticeably cooler. Confused by the sky gazers will see the sun fully blocked Sky gazers in Utah await a lesser 2012 eclipse. sudden twilight, birds stop singing and by the moon—will cut across about a dozen crickets start chirping. In the minute or two states, tracking southeast from Oregon to total eclipse, because “the eye perceives gor- before totality, you may see shadow bands: South Carolina. A viewing party in your geous detail the camera can’t capture.” Take shimmering dark lines that ripple along own backyard might seem good enough, but the corona—the aura of superheated plasma the ground and can’t be photographed or don’t settle. “Totality feels like nothing else enveloping the sun. The inner corona is videotaped. Totality lasts roughly 90 to in life.” Travel to see it, “even if you end up dotted with “deep-pink geysers of nuclear 160 seconds, so don’t squander a single observing from a highway shoulder.” flame,” each one an explosion larger than one. When the eclipse is over, “the magi- Earth and visible to the eye but not a cam- cal feeling” quickly subsides. “You want it We’ve all seen photos showing the black era. The outer corona, meanwhile, forms back, but you can’t have it. Memory cannot disc of the moon wrapped in a fuzzy glow. “a complex, stringy structure” that streams fully recapture the otherworldly flavor; it’s But photos don’t compare with witnessing a millions of miles into space along the sun’s present only while totality unfolds.”

The best places to observe totality Path of the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse

Total solar eclipse path

90% magnitude

75% magnitude

Flashback: The final stages of 2012’s sunset eclipse in the Southwest

You’re late if you’re just starting to plan white sands of the St. Anthony Sand Dunes. traveling to see Aug. 21’s total eclipse, but In Wyoming, Jackson Hole hotels are sold don’t let long-overbooked hotels discourage out, so consider the first come, first served you, said Valli Herman in the Los Angeles camping in Grand Teton National Park. Times. Totality will be visible along a path from Oregon to South Carolina, and in Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky: Nebraska Tennessee, South Carolina: “For urban many places you can camp under the stars will be holding eclipse events “from border eclipse viewing, Nashville is spot-on,” said the night before. The eclipse’s umbral cone, to border,” and because the path of total- Laurie Wilson in The Boston Globe. All of or full shadow, will make landfall in New- ity follows a long stretch of Interstate 80, Music City will be celebrating, while parks port, Ore., at 10:15 a.m. Pacific Time, and eclipse watchers can easily chase clear skies throughout the state will have viewing will complete its cross-country run near if storms roll in. Tryon, a tiny ranching town parties. Great Smoky Mountains National Charleston, S.C., more than 90 minutes later, that’s “quintessential Nebraska,” will be Park offers expansive views—and from its at around 2:49 p.m. Eastern Time. Choices hosting its first big party, said Chris Christen highest vantage points, the chance to see of great places to be run from coast to coast: in the Omaha World-Herald. Expect the moon’s shadow race toward you at wagon prairie tours, a craft fair, and horse 1,500 miles per hour. In Columbia, S.C., Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming: Tickets are still shows. In Missouri, residents of St. Louis which will experience the longest total available for the Oregon Solarfest, a NASA- and Kansas City should get to St. Joseph, eclipse (2 minutes 36 seconds) of any East sponsored Aug. 17–22 event in Madras on the Missouri River, said Jamie Carter Coast city, events will include a Lowcountry that will feature live music, hot-air balloon in TravelAndLeisure.com. In Kentucky, boil and a “Star Wars Musiclipse” concert rides, and rental gear for high-desert camp- Cerulean and Kelly will host festivals, and by the South Carolina Philharmonic. ing. Idaho Falls is Idaho’s biggest city in the Franklin will hold a telescope-making work- For detailed lists of events in every state,

Getty, Alamy Getty, eclipse’s path, but campers will prefer the shop the day before the eclipse. visit GreatAmericanEclipse.com.

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 28 Best properties on the market This week: Single-story homes

1 W Palm Desert, Calif. This three-bedroom house lies on 0.5 acres with lush plantings of bamboo and palms. Details include two fireplaces, beamed ceilings, floor-to- ceiling glass walls, and a large outdoor kitchen. Outside, a saltwater pool, spa, and rock waterfall are surrounded by cantilevering decks. $1,139,000. Richard Bartholomew and Gregg Fletcher, The Agency, (760) 965-4202

4 6 2

3 5

2 W Bloomfield Township, Mich. Irving Tobocman built this five- bedroom home in 1980. The interior has travertine marble floors, an open floor plan, and a master suite with a marble bath and a private terrace. A basement level features a theater room, an exercise room, and a billiard room with a bar. $1,698,000. Nanci J. Rands, Hall & Hunter Realtor/Christie’s International Real Estate, (248) 701-9000

3 X Paradise Valley, Ariz. This three-bedroom Spanish- style ranch house in the desert includes a chef’s kitchen, tile floors, and exposed beams. The property features an entry courtyard, a pool with a spa, a ramada with a fireplace, and a one-bedroom guesthouse. $2,595,000. Walt Danley, Walt Danley Realty/ Christie’s International Real Estate, (480) 991-2050

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Best properties on the market 29

4 X Portland, Ore. Built in 1983, this three- bedroom house under- went a gut renovation in 2015. The open-floor interior boasts 14-foot- high ceilings, custom windows, and a gourmet kitchen with quartzite counters and unique tile. The master bedroom has sliding doors that lead to a private patio. $1,895,000. Heather Jenkins, Realty Trust Group, (503) 850-3179

Steal of the week

5 S Santa Fe This Pueblo- style house on 2.8 acres provides views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The four-bedroom home has 11 fireplaces, plastered walls, ornate tiling, arched doorways, and a gourmet kitchen. Other 6 S Orchard Lake, Mich. This four-bedroom home on features include a 14,000-gallon a dead-end street offers access to the private Upper rain-catchment system, radi- Straits Lake. The California-style ranch features an ant heating, solar power, and open floor plan, three fireplaces, and floor-to-ceiling a one-bedroom guesthouse. windows. The property has a covered porch and a $2,100,000. Emily Garcia, patio and is adjacent to the Orchard Lake Country Sotheby’s International Realty, Club. $392,500. Candice Rich, Signature/Sotheby’s (505) 955-7963 International Realty, (248) 644-7000

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 30 LEISURE Consumer

The 2018 Audi S4 : What the critics say New York Daily News counterpart, the S5. Whichever you choose, “The S4 is a Clark Kent among power “you’re going to end up with a sporty and sedans.” A “quiet thriller,” it’s the Audi that nearly awless car.” They’re styled beauti- proved to other luxury automakers that fully, and Audi “continues to excel in cockpit some drivers want a performance boost innovation,” this time giving the driver three without having to buy a veritable race car. screens of data, including one projected Now fully made over, the 2018 S4 arrives on the windshield. Sure, that’s probably a with a turbocharged 354-hp V-6 wedded to a screen too many. But the S4 is otherwise revelatory eight-speed transmission. “There hard to fault, unless it’s that too much perfec- are more extroverted performance sedans,” tion “somehow approaches the anodyne.” but this one “does grip twisty roads with Powerful elegance, from $50,900 quiet abandon” and “shortens long straights Autoweek with Pac-Man voraciousness.” “There are so many good choices in this buyer might choose the A4, the $40,000 category”: BMW’s 340i, Mercedes-Benz’s sedan the S4 is based on. But that car does Autoblog.com C43, etc. But Audi buyers are loyalists, and 0 to 60 not in 4.4 seconds but 7.1—“which Some buyers may prefer the S4’s coupe “who can blame them?” A different Audi wouldn’t be as much fun.”

The best of...commuter gear for cyclists

Brooks B3 Search and State Rapha Crank Brothers Y15 Kryptonite Leather Bag S1-J Riding Jacket Loopback Trousers This three-way multitool Evolution Mini-7 Brooks England has Few cycling shells com- These stretchy nylon is “absolute genius,” The only way a thief been making premium bine all-weather insula- slacks are “super com- packing answers to sev- can cut through bicycle accessories tion with the “urban fortable,” and they’re eral repair needs into a Kryptonite’s sturdy since the 1880s. This good looks” of this New sharp enough that they pocket-size at plastic U-locks is with a noisy beautiful bag comes York–made jacket. The pass as ofi ce attire. disc. Its features include power tool. This 7-incher with a detachable shoul- fabric adjusts to temper- The interior wicks away “pretty much everything comes with a 4-foot der strap, but its button- ature changes, becom- moisture, the exterior you need”: a patch kit, a cable for leashing the stud straps will also ing more breathable repels rain, and the rear chain breaker, i ve hex front wheel, plus one secure it to your bike’s when warm and more pocket zips to keep a wrenches, and a magne- year of antitheft protec- frame or rear rack. waterproof when cool. wallet in place. tized driver with six bits. tion for your bike. $285, brooksengland.com $265, searchandstate.com $170, rapha.cc $40, crankbrothers.com $70.50, amazon.com Source: Wall Street Journal Source: OutsideOnline.com Source: Bicycling.com Source: OutsideOnline.com Source: TheSweethome.com

Tip of the week... And for those who have Best apps... Dishwasher buttons decoded everything... For making moving easier Q Quick clean will adequately sanitize items If the only thing that’s Q Sortly helps you keep track of what’s that weren’t very dirty anyway—like water kept you from buying packed inside every box. Snap a photo of or wine glasses and plates you just pur- a submarine was the each item before it’s sealed away, then print chased at a yard sale. complexity of the custom labels with QR codes that can be Q Heat dry should be on when you expect controls, “it’s time to scanned to reveal the boxes’ contents. the machine to dry the plates with its heater get your checkbook Q Unpakt lets you shop for the best rate elements. But not all machines do this well, ready.” The Under- among movers. Enter a destination, calculate and you’ll get better results if you can crack sea Aquahoverer load size, and you’ll see several options. the door open just after the rinse cycle ends. makes navigating Q Moved lets you hand over the details of a Q Air dry keeps automatic drying from underwater as move to a personal assistant, who’ll arrange starting, so it’s the button to hit if you plan easy as driving a for movers, cleaning, storage, and insurance. to crack the door. You’ll be cutting electricity car, because it’s designed The concierge service itself is free. use by 15 to 50 percent. to hover in place automatically Q Flip makes subletting easy, allowing you to Q Sani-rinse or Sani-wash boosts water tem- when not being directed by either driver. create an Airbnb-like listing and addressing perature until it’ll kill even stubborn germs. Created by Hammacher Schlemmer, the craft most of the challenges for your landlord. Q Rinse and hold spritzes the dishes to pre- can operate at depths to 400 feet and has Q Ghostruck, Bellhops, and Dolly are app- vent food from drying on. It’s useful if you six ducted propellers that’ll move it in any managed moving services that each operate like to fill the dishwasher before running a direction. If you spot a shipwreck or interest- in select major cities. Bellhops employs local full cycle. ing marine animal, you can chat with your college students. Ghostruck connects you Q Control lock stops and drains the machine co-pilot through a built-in intercom system. with trucks or partially empty trucks that are when you need to open the door midcycle. $1,500,000, hammacher.com already out on jobs. Source: CNET.com Source: HiConsumption.com Source: BusinessInsider.com

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 BUSINESS 31 The news at a glance

The bottom line Media: Sinclair expands broadcasting empire Q Nearly 40 perc ent of U.S. Sinclair Broadcast Group “just agenda,” may be working to set employees worked for a tightened its grip” on local itself up as a rival to Fox News. younger boss in 2014, up TV, said Sydney Ember and from 31 percent of work- Michael de la Merced in The Sinclair has “long been an ers in 2010. Caterpillar, AIG, New York Times SAP, and Ford have all hired . “Already influential force for Republican executives in their 30s for se- the largest owner of local politicians and political can- nior positions since last year. television stations” in the didates,” said Dylan Byers The Wall Street Journal U.S., Sinclair announced this in CNN.com. Now, it’s set to Q The largest global banks week that it is buying Tribune grow even more powerful, plan to move about 9,000 jobs Media for $3.9 billion, beating thanks in large part to President Soon to reach 70 percent of households from Lon don to conti nental out bidders like 21st Century Trump’s newly appointed chair- Europe over the next two Fox. The deal will allow Sinclair to reach more man of the Federal Communications Commission, years, according to state- than 70 percent of American households by add- Ajit Pai. The FCC officially caps broadcasters’ ments that have been made ing to its portfolio Tribune’s 42 stations, “many total household reach at 39 percent, which has since the Brexit vote. While that represents just 2 percent of which are in larger markets” like New York effectively barred Sinclair from acquisitions. But of London’s finance jobs, and Chicago. Some analysts have speculated that the agency recently moved to make it easier for Britain’s tax revenue would Sinclair, which “has shown a willingness to use broadcasters to understate their overall reach, suffer from losing high- its 173 stations to advance a conservative-leaning clearing the way for Sinclair’s megamerger. income taxpayers. Reuters.com Dove’s body image Q Last year was the first Fashion: Coach buys Kate Spade for $2.4B ad stunt in which more Ameri- “Coach’s deal to buy Kate Spade is finally in the bag,” said Phil Wahba cans relied solely on in Fortune.com. Following months of speculation, the affordable luxury Dove has a n ew idea to cellphones than on retailer confirmed this week that it’s acquiring Kate Spade for $2.4 bil- promote body positiv- ity: curvy soap bottles, landlines. Some lion in cash in a bid to win over younger customers and expand its 50.8 percent said Lisa Gutierrez in brand portfolio. Coach has been “enjoying something of a comeback The Kansas City Star. of homes and after years of aggressive discounting and expansion hurt its luxury aura apartments had The personal-care only cellphone in North America.” The company plans to employ at Kate Spade many brand, which has billed service, according of the same strategies it used to repair its own business, like having itself as a champion of to a recent govern- fewer sales and leaving low-performing department stores. female self-esteem with ment survey, versus a long-running “Real Te ch : Uber facing criminal investigation Beauty” ad campaign, 45.9 percent with Uber is facing a federal criminal probe into its use of a “ghost app” landline phones. has unveiled a series Associated Press to dupe local regulators, said Marco della Cava in USA Today. The of limited-edition body Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the ride-hailing wash containers in Q Of 37 economists sur- the United Kingdom veyed by the University of company’s recently exposed “Greyball” program, which allowed Uber engineers to send specific users a fake map that didn’t accurately show based on different body Chicago’s Booth School of shapes. Some bottles Business, just two said that which drivers were in the area. Uber said the program was developed to steer drivers away from problem riders, but the company later admit- are tall and slender, President Trump’s proposed while others are pear- tax cuts would pay for ted that Greyball “was used in part to track and avoid regulators who or hourglass-shaped. themselves by stimulating might be hailing rides to scrutinize the company’s business practices.” “Each bottle evokes the enough economic growth Washington: Progress made on Dodd-Frank repeal shapes, sizes, curves, to make up for lost tax rev- and edges that combine enue. Both economists later Congressional Republicans have taken a big step toward rolling back Obama-era financial regulations, said Rachel Witkowski in The Wall to make every woman said they misunderstood the their very own limited question and reversed their Street Journal. The House Financial Services Committee voted along edition,” Dove said in a answer, saying the proposed party lines last week to send a bill undoing “significant parts” of the statement. “They’re one tax cuts wouldn’t pay for 2010 Dodd-Frank law to the full House of Representatives, “where it of a kind—just like you.” themselves. likely will be approved in the coming weeks.” Among other things, the While the advertising The Washington Post Financial Choice Act would ease many banking regulations and greatly community applauded Q The typical CEO of an weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But the bill “faces the campaign—Adweek S&P 500 company earned uncertain prospects” in the Senate, where it will need Democratic votes. called it “inspired”— $13.1 million in 2016, or 347 wits on Twitter wasted times more than the average Economy: April saw hiring uptick no time skewering the American worker, according The labor market roared back in April after an “unexpectedly weak” company. “Great,” said to a recent analysis by the jobs report in March, said Akin Oyedele in BusinessInsider.com. The one user. “Now our AFL-CIO. The labor federa- U.S. economy added 211,000 jobs last month, according to the Bureau soap bottles are judging tion says that CEO pay rose of Labor Statistics, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.4 percent, us, too.” Another: “So nearly 6 percent last year, you can contemplate outpacing wage increases its lowest point since May 2007. Retailers added 6,300 jobs after two months of declines. “But the losses may not be over, as roughly 3,500 how far outside the for workers. ideal your body is even HuffingtonPost.com stores are expected to close over the next few months with retail giants in the shower.”

AP, Getty AP, like Macy’s and JCPenney shuttering locations.”

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 32 BUSINESS Making money

Retirement: Saving in the home stretch If you’re ready to retire, but your nest “it’s time to replace the retirement- egg isn’t, you’re not alone, said Walter income stool with the retirement- Updegrave in Money.com. Fewer than income ladder.” That means drawing 1 in 4 Baby Boomers think they will on diverse sources of income for have enough money to last through their support. One of the rungs on your retirement, according to a recent study personal retirement ladder might by the Insured Retirement Institute. be working a part-time job, or ne- That’s “not surprising” considering that gotiating a phased retirement with the median 401(k) balance for 55- to your employer. Your home should 64-year-olds is less than $72,000. The be another key part of your strategy, good news is that it’s not too late to whether that means renting out a shore up your retirement prospects, room for extra cash, downsizing to even if you’re approaching the end of save on expenses, or taking out a your career. Even starting from scratch, reverse mortgage to provide another It’s never too late to start saving for retirement. a 50-year-old worker who puts away income stream. roughly $500 a month could save as much as $144,000 by age 65, assuming a 6 percent rate of return. That won’t beat an en- “Working just one extra year can make a big difference in your tire career’s worth of 401(k) contributions, but it’s better than retirement savings,” said Christy Bieber in CNN.com. If you entering retirement “with little or no savings and only Social have a $350,000 nest egg and earn a 6 percent return, waiting Security to fall back on.” a year to draw on your funds translates into $21,000 in gains, even if you don’t contribute another penny. Wait five years, and One thing is for sure: “Your retirement will be different from your savings could grow to more than $468,000. But don’t for- your parents’ retirement,” said Kenn Tacchino in Market get that every retirement strategy is subject to the whims of the Watch.com. Once upon a time, financial advisers referred to market, said Gail MarksJarvis in the Chicago Tribune. Even if retirement as a “three-legged stool,” supported by Social Se- your 401(k) looks healthy, you can’t count on average annual curity, employer-sponsored plans, and personal savings. All gains. “The key is to think at the outset of retirement whether three “legs” are still important to any retirement strategy, but you would have enough in Social Security, pensions, or maybe these days, the “analogy does not do justice to the variety of re- annuities or money from a temporary job to cut back spending sources needed” to fund a comfortable post-work life. Instead, in a tough period.” Then, you can take the leap.

What the experts say Charity of the week An app to stop overdrafts with online lender SoFi last year, will now be Since its founding A startup “wants to help make those ridiculous available through all 1,800 of its lenders. Fan- in 1975, the Marine overdraft penalties a thing of the past,” said nie Mae will also start allowing borrowers to Mammal Center Steven Melendez in FastCompany.com. Dave, a exclude debt being paid by others, like student (marinemammal center.org), a veteri- smartphone app backed by billionaire investor loans being paid off by a parent or employer, nary research hospital Mark Cuban, syncs with users’ bank accounts from their mortgage applications. It will also and educational cen- and warns them when they’re in danger of change how it considers borrowers who are on ter based in Sausalito, overdrawing by analyzing their spending hab- flexible payment programs. Both moves should Calif., has rescued and treated more than its and recurring expenses. The app will even improve borrowers’ debt-to-income ratio, mak- 20,000 injured, ill, or abandoned marine provide interest-free loans of up to $250 to ing them more likely to qualify for a mortgage. mammals. The center combines animal keep bank charges at bay, though there is a $3 rehabilitation with an on-site research transfer fee. The loan is then repaid automati- IRAs aren’t working as intended lab to study the health of marine mammal populations and their ocean habitat, cally on the next payday. Dave uses machine- A new study suggests that IRAs mostly help focusing in particular on elephant seals, learning algorithms to make sure users have the people “who need them the least,” said harbor seals, and California sea lions. The the ability to repay a loan before it offers them Lauren Weber in The Wall Street Journal. center can care for more than 200 animals one, analyzing several months of income his- Individual retirement accounts were created at once and treat 600 or more a year. Nearly 50 percent of the center’s patients tory. That data also lets Dave predict “when by Congress more than 40 years ago to give are eventually released back into the wild. users might need a loan,” giving them a chance workers without employer-sponsored pro- The Marine Mammal Center is open to the to trim discretionary expenses. grams access to tax-advantaged retirement public, offering tours and education pro- savings plans. Of the 14 percent of Americans grams to more than 100,000 visitors every Trading student debt for home debt year. Its scholarship programs also fund who put money into IRAs in 2011, 53 percent field trips for low-income schools. Fannie Mae is making it easier for people with also had an employer-sponsored 401(k), ac- student loan debt to buy a home or refinance a cording to the Center for Retirement Research Each charity we feature has earned a mortgage, said Ann Carrns in The New York at Boston College. And the vast bulk of the four-star overall rating from Charity Times. The government-controlled mortgage $7.8 trillion held in IRAs in 2016 came from Navigator, which rates not-for-profit giant “is expanding its cash-out mortgage refi- rollovers of 401(k)s. With IRA investors hav- organizations on the strength of their nance option, which lets borrowers trade high- ing average household earnings of $110,000, finances, their governance practices, and the transparency of their operations. rate student loan debt for lower-rate home the study’s authors conclude that the accounts Four stars is the group’s highest rating.

loans.” The program, which Fannie Mae tested are “barely serving lower-income families.” Getty

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 My Impossible: Surfing prepared me for my photography business. It taught me it’s okay to fall over a few times before finding your feet.

Ryan Struck, Ryan Struck Photography Hiscox Customer

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Issue of the week: Airline passengers revolt “Yet again, cellphone video has captured a more than 15 years after the Sept. 11 ter- chaotic slice of air travel—this time, on the rorist attacks, passengers “are still running ground,” said Amy Wang and Luz Lazo in a TSA gauntlet: shoes and belt off, laptop The Washington Post. A near riot broke out of the bag, no water bottles.” At the out this week at Florida’s Fort Lauderdale– same time, airlines are trying to squeeze Hollywood International Airport after Spirit more people into ever-smaller seats, while Airlines canceled 11 flights because of a labor ramping up fees and slashing amenities for dispute with its pilots, stranding hundreds all but the highest-paying flyers. “There are of passengers. Video posted online showed few places in modern life where the recent furious would-be flyers “pushing, screaming, emergence of economic class and status and cursing,” and at least three people were differentials are clearer,” says Steven Liv- arrested for disorderly conduct. The incident ingston, a professor at George Washington was just the latest in a string of PR debacles University. “Some people go on American for U.S. airlines, beginning last month when a air carriers angry from the start.” 69-year-old doctor was dragged off a United flight by police. In just the past few weeks, Spirit Airlines passengers held back by police. Air travel was a “dreadful experience” well viral videos have caught onboard brawls, before these incidents, but the airlines may irate flight attendants berating passengers, and families with chil- have finally “pushed passengers just too far,” said David Schaper dren being thrown off planes. When Congress summoned airline in NPR.org. After the United incident, passengers are on hair- CEOs for questioning on Capitol Hill last week, Rep. Duncan trigger alert, “ready to record any stumble the airlines make.” Hunter (R-Calif.) cut to the chase: “How much,” he asked the Lawmakers sent an unambiguous message to airline executives executives, “do you hate the American people?” last week: Be nicer to customers, or we’ll force you to be, said The Economist. But rather than regulating legroom and fees, Seemingly every week brings another air-travel fiasco, said Jon Congress should focus on undoing the effects of industry consoli- Ostrower in CNN.com. “But are they really happening with dation, which has given huge market share to a few airlines and greater frequency?” The number of incidents involving unruly allowed them “to care little for the flyers they should be nurtur- passengers has actually steadily declined since its peak in 2004. ing.” Perhaps it’s time to relax strict foreign ownership rules. Complaints from passengers to the Department of Transportation “Imagine how long United and American would last in their are also down, falling 11 percent from 2015 to 2016. “So why current, disdainful guise if Emirates, Singapore Airlines, or even do we care so much more now than before?” Maybe it’s because, Ryanair were allowed to compete against them.”

It’s been eight years since the recession ended, and or more a year, spurred by population growth, easy A new age unemployment is low, the stock market is booming, credit, and the expansion of global trade. But those and consumer confidence is surging. “Yet the econ- forces are decelerating sharply; families are having of low omy doesn’t feel as good as it looks,” said Robert fewer children, banks aren’t lending as much, and Samuelson. We can’t seem to shake an underlying cross-border trade is slowing. That means 1.5 per- growth sense of anxiety. The explanation, according to a new cent growth could be the new normal, both for the Robert Samuelson study by a top Morgan Stanley analyst, is that we U.S. and other developed nations. The consequences The Washington Post are entering “a new era of low economic growth.” will be political as much as economic. For decades, The expectations we have, both here and abroad, advanced democracies have relied on steady growth for regular upticks in GDP “are no longer realistic, to raise living standards while paying for a social because the global economy has changed in ways safety net to protect people from “capitalism’s worst that reduce growth.” Between World War II and excesses.” At best, this model “desperately needs re- 2008, the U.S. economy usually grew by 3 percent pair.” At worst, it may already be broken.

“A hacker who unsuccessfully tried to hold Netflix 60 percent in 2003. By comparison, Netflix accounts How Netflix for ransom has achieved an unexpected result,” said for 35 percent. “Consumers are motivated by conve- Leonid Bershidsky: He’s shown that subscription- nience,” and the ease of a Netflix subscription now killed based business models are making online piracy trumps using an awkward, legally ambiguous tech- “pointless.” Someone named “TheDarkOverlord” nology that doesn’t allow for instant, high-quality piracy recently stole most of the new season of Netflix’s streaming, especially if the offerings are limited. Leonid Bershidsky Orange Is the New Black and demanded the stream- Incidents of software and music piracy are also de- Bloomberg.com ing service pay a ransom to keep it off the web. clining, thanks to affordable subscription services When Netflix refused to pay, the episodes were that have made downloads simple and risk-free. Film posted on the website Pirate Bay, where anyone studios, however, are still vulnerable, if only because with a file-sharing program could download them they insist on protecting their theater revenues by for free. But “it’s safe to say” Netflix won’t regret not releasing films online concurrently. Perhaps its decision. Peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic, which is they’ll soon catch on, which would make the theft of often used to share pirated content, now represents a blockbuster movie “nearly pointless, as it has been

only 1.7 percent of peak internet traffic, down from in TheDarkOverlord’s case.” Newscom

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 Obituaries 35

The Olympian who got the Navy swimming The scientist who helped develop Adolph Adolph Kiefer proved to be a backstroke the polio vaccine Kiefer should have prodigy. “He broke his first 1918–2017 become one of world record at 15,” said Julius Youngner was a crucial America’s great- The New York Times, “and member of the University of est Olympians. At the 1936 for 15 years he held every Pittsburgh team that devel- Berlin Games, the 18-year-old world backstroke mark.” At oped the Salk polio vaccine. swimmer set a world record of 16, he became the first man Youngner worked out how 1 minute, 5.9 seconds in the to swim the 100-meter back- to grow large Julius amounts of 100-meter backstroke finals, stroke in under a minute, Youngner the polio- taking the gold. The outbreak and he continued to lower 1920–2017 virus for of World War II denied Kiefer the record over the coming experiments, the chance to win more medals—the 1940 and years, setting a personal best of 56.1 seconds discovered a safe way to 1944 Games were canceled—but it would bring a in 1944. After Kiefer retired from competition deactivate the virus so it far more profound satisfaction. Joining the Navy in 1946, Hollywood courted him with offers— could be injected as a vac- as a specialist in the physical fitness division, he including the role of Tarzan—and Bob Kiphuth, cine, and devised a blood was horrified to learn that sailors were more a celebrated coach at Yale, asked him to become test to measure the vac- likely to drown than to die from enemy fire. an assistant. But he “turned them all down.” cine’s effectiveness. His work helped save millions of lives, Kiefer was put in charge of a Navy-wide swim- Kiefer started “a swimming equipment company and paved the way for the ming safety program and devised the “victory in 1947,” said the Associated Press, and devel- near-total eradication of the backstroke”—which began with the arms oped the first nylon swimming suit and the first deadly disease. But Jonas extended behind the head in a V shape—that was commercial line of plastic kickboards. Though Salk, the scientist leading the credited with saving thousands of sailors’ lives. research, failed to individu- neuropathy eventually left him without feeling He called it his “greatest thrill.” ally credit his six assistants in his feet, Kiefer swam daily until just before when he announced the Born in Chicago to German immigrants, Kiefer his death. He loved reminiscing about the 1936 breakthrough—a decision that was “introduced to swimming by accident, when Games—especially the time Hitler asked to meet left Youngner embittered and he fell into a canal,” said The Washington Post. him. “His handshake wasn’t a firm one,” Kiefer largely forgotten by the his- “I didn’t know how to swim,” he recalled. “But recalled in 2000. “If I knew then what I know tory books. “Jonas was, how I floated on my back and kicked my feet.” Kiefer now about Hitler, I should have thrown him into shall I say, not very generous promptly began lessons at the YMCA, and the pool and drowned him.” to his colleagues,” he said. Born and raised in New York City, Youngner “nearly died” from pneumonia when he The war hero who shared a cell with McCain was 7, said The New York Times. Doctors were forced Leo On April 19, 1967, “eligible to end his tour,” said to operate on Youngner Thorsness Col. Leo Thorsness The New York Times. At the without anesthesia when he 1932–2017 led four U.S. fighter- North Vietnamese prison camp developed a secondary infec- bombers in an attack known as the Hanoi Hilton, he tion in a rib. “To this day,” he on surface-to-air missile (SAM) spent a year in solitary confine- recalled in the early 1990s, positions near Hanoi. After strik- ment and was tortured nearly “I can remember the feeling two North Vietnamese batter- every day. For most of the fol- ing of the saw on that rib.” ies and downing an enemy MiG, lowing five years, Thorsness After earning his doctorate in Thorsness and his weapons special- shared a tiny cell with McCain microbiology, Youngner was drafted into the Army and ist, Capt. Harold Johnson, saw two and two other Americans. “You joined the Manhattan Project. members of their group eject from get to know each other so well,” He discovered he’d been a damaged plane. To provide cover for rescue he said, “talking about your families, failures, working on the atomic bomb helicopters, Thorsness engaged four MiGs in weaknesses, hopes and dreams, everything.” “only when it was dropped aerial combat and successfully chased them away. on Japan.” Thorsness discovered he had been recommended Despite being perilously low on fuel, he instructed for the Medal of Honor through other POWs, Youngner had a “brief stint” an airborne tanker to refuel other planes rather said The Washington Post. But to prevent his cap- at the National Cancer than his own—and then glided 70 miles to safety. tors from “inflicting additional torture on him,” Institute before joining Thorsness, who was shot down 11 days later with Salk’s team in 1949, said the the news wasn’t made public until his release, in Johnson and held captive with future U.S. Sen. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After 1973. No longer able to fly—his knees were badly John McCain, received the Medal of Honor for completing his work on the injured in the crash—Thorsness retired from the his heroics. “As we climbed out of the cockpit,” polio vaccine, he stayed at Air Force. After failed runs to represent South he recalled, “Harry said something quaint like the university and enjoyed Dakota in Congress, he worked for the defense a “distinguished career as ‘That’s a full day’s work.’” contractor Litton Industries. In a 1992 interview, a research scientist.” When Born in Walnut Grove, Minn., Thorsness Thorsness recalled calculating how many times asked whether he regretted “enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 at the age of he’d have to walk around his cramped cell to working for Salk, Youngner 19,” said AL.com. In 1966, he was assigned to cover the 10,000-mile distance to the U.S. “If we responded unequivocally. “Absolutely not,” he said. a SAM-busting squadron known as the Wild could walk home in our cell,” he said, “we knew “My only regret is that he Weasels. Thorsness was shot down and cap- whatever had to happen in the world would hap- disappointed me.”

Getty, U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Kenny Holston 1st Class Kenny Air Force/Airman U.S. Getty, tured on his 93rd mission, seven short of being pen, and we really would get home.”

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 36 The last word Before the music disappears When Steve Goodwin’s memory began to fade, his family feared losing his beloved compositions forever, said journalist Tom Hallman. Then a professional musician offered to bring his songs to life again.

LL HIS LIFE, Steve over the death of a pet, empty Goodwin had been a rooms when the girls left for Aprivate man. No mat- college, and now, the joy of ter the circumstances, he’d say being grandparents. he was doing just fine. But as he sat in his Wilsonville, Ore., Steve’s life, as is the case with home that Monday morning, many men, had been defined he wasn’t fine. by what society calls success: money, power, and an impres- Over the weekend, he’d argued sive résumé. with his youngest daughter, Melissa. The blowup ended “Steve was a freelance soft- when his daughter, tears in her ware entrepreneur,” Joni said. eyes, opened the front door of “He made a comfortable liv- her home and told him to leave. ing, but we weren’t rich. But he always believed he had it As is the case in all families, in him to create something they’d had minor disagreements special with his software. He before. But Saturday’s battle talked about his ship coming had been raw. Steve knew he in.” But before his projects needed to set things straight. It Steve Goodwin with his wife, Joni (center), and daughter Melissa (left) launched, she said, a big was time to reveal his secret. player in the competitive His wife, Joni, called Melissa, who lived window. She didn’t recognize her son. Once industry would beat him to the punch. three blocks away. After she arrived, they an accomplished musician, she didn’t know what to do with a piano. Joni had always told her husband his true gathered in the living room and made small gift, even if no one outside the family heard talk. Then, from a shirt pocket, Steve pulled Now, it was his turn. A grim fear took hold it, was his music. “He’d say, ‘Sweetie, thank out his handwritten notes. within Steve. you very much,’” Joni said. “Then he’d get Mom and I saw a neurologist. I have a The disease, Melissa knew, would block out back to his software to pay the bills.” spot in my brain. I am being honest. If this all her father had ever been. Her father’s Just like her father, Melissa had told no one progresses into Alzheimer’s, I know what essence was his music, the soundtrack to her what was going on. Not even her closest it is like. I saw my mom. I experienced the life. She’d taken it for granted. And now the friend, Naomi LaViolette, who knew only pain of her personality changing, her being music was dying. that Melissa’s father was dealing with a unkind to me and saying hurtful things. HE MUSIC AND Steve’s inspiration medical issue. If I ever do or say anything hurtful, I want remained a mystery. He was the only They had become friends three years ear- you to know that I am sorry. No matter Tmusician in the family. No one else lier in one of those strange and fortuitous what I do and say, you are my little girl and spoke, or understood, his language. moments where two unrelated lives become I love you. Melissa thought about hiring a professional intertwined. Their kids attended the same For Melissa, the bitter news explained so pianist to work with her father. But she preschool and they’d see each other in the much. She’d first noticed changes the pre- figured most would require a musical score. parking lot. vious summer. She’d been at her parents’ Her father had none. She needed someone One day, Naomi, a deeply private woman, house, and she’d asked her father to play who could pull the music from him, and surprised herself when she began crying his piano, something he’d done all her life. also respect and treat tenderly the com- after Melissa asked how her day was going. Steve was a software engineer by profession, poser’s vulnerable soul. A proud man, Steve Instead of saying fine and getting in her car, but music was his true passion. Growing hadn’t told anyone outside the family about she said she was going through a divorce up, Melissa and her sister fell asleep each his diagnosis. and was afraid. night to his songs. Decades later, the music Whenever Melissa approached her mother, allowed Melissa, now in her late 30s, to for- They went on walks, talking about life and Joni changed the subject: Let’s not ruin this ever be the little girl who so loved her father. struggles. Over the years, the two women good day. Instead of looking to the future, had family dinners and outings. Melissa On that day, she’d watched in confusion as Joni focused on the present, protecting Steve watched Naomi’s kids when Naomi needed her father, always so smooth and proficient, and his dignity. He used to cook dinner, but time alone or had to work on her career. fumbled and stopped. He said he hadn’t now he didn’t remember if he’d added salt, been practicing. Now she knew the truth. or whether the recipe called for salt. He She was a pianist. More extensive tests revealed that Steve, tested her patience by asking the same ques- Naomi started piano lessons at 4. Blessed then 65, had early-onset Alzheimer’s, a tion repeatedly. with perfect pitch, a genetic trait some disease passed genetically from his mother. Joni missed hearing him at the piano. His researchers say is found in only 1 in 10,000, By the time his mother died, at age 74, music represented a life together: courtship, Naomi could identify a musical note by

she spent her days, in silence, staring out a marriage, family, buying a house, grieving hearing it played once. At 7, she discovered Nakamura (2) Beth

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 The last word 37 she could learn a piece of music by listen- play. Steve moved to the piano and sat at played if he could. He insisted that she be ing to it. As an adult, she earned a master’s the bench, hands trembling as he gently credited as a collaborator on the piece. degree in classical music and could play placed his fingers on the keys. And, then, another miracle. Working with anything from jazz to pop to gospel. She Naomi discreetly slipped a small recorder Naomi had stirred within Steve the belief performed in clubs and at festivals, released near the piano. Starts and stops and mis- he could compose one last song. One day, her own music, and was featured on CDs takes. Long pauses, frustration surfacing. Naomi received an email. Attached was with other musicians. But Steve pressed on, for the first time in a recording, a testament to loss and love, In the summer of 2015, the two women his life playing for a stranger. to the fight. Steve called it “Melancholy Flower.” met for coffee. Naomi casually asked That night, Naomi pulled out the recorder. Melissa how she was doing. This time, it She listened just as she had as a child and Naomi hit Play. was Melissa who cried. She told Naomi later as a student to transcribe the jazz about the diagnosis and the music, how her She heard multiple stops and starts, Steve father no longer played the piano, and struggling, searching while his wife how the music would be lost. Naomi, called him “honey” and encouraged who’d had no idea that Steve was a pia- him. The task was overwhelming, and nist, wanted to help. Steve, frustrated and angry, said he was quitting. Joni praised him, telling “I told her that I could learn his music, her husband this could be his signature even by listening to parts of it,” she said. piece. Keep going, she said, keep going. “If he could provide anything, we could He did. work together.” It would be the last song Steve Goodwin While grateful, Melissa declined Naomi’s would ever compose. offer. Her father had never played for anyone outside of family and friends. HROUGH LAST YEAR and into With his skills now fading, she doubted T2017, Naomi figured out how he would subject himself to such embar- to play 16 of Steve’s favorite, rassment. As the disease progressed, Steve Working at the piano with Naomi LaViolette and most personal, songs. She scored was growing more defiant. He didn’t the music for future musicians. With want special attention, certainly not anyone solos of Horace Silver, Bill Evans, and Naomi’s help, the Goodwin family found feeling sorry for him. Thelonious Monk. She understood Steve’s a sound engineer to record Naomi playing music. She found hints of themes, counter- Steve’s songs. Joni thought that would be Music was no longer talked about. Joni had themes, harmonies, and rhythms. the end. But it wasn’t. barred Melissa from raising the subject. “It was beautiful,” Naomi said. “The In the months leading up to the 2016 But during a phone call, Naomi brought music was worth saving.” Oregon Repertory Singers Christmas con- up the music once more. Melissa said she’d cert, the director asked Naomi, the group’s think about it. Her responsibility, her privilege, would be pianist, for song choices. She said she had a to rescue it. The music was still in Steve A month later, Melissa learned her father special one in mind: “Melancholy Flower.” Goodwin. It was hidden in rooms with was scheduled to take a test to see if he was doors about to be locked. She told the director about her project with sharp enough to receive an experimental Steve. The director agreed to add it to the drug that might slow the pace of the disease. Every other week, Naomi and Steve met repertoire. But to make it work, Naomi Steve had taken the test twice. Both times, in his home to spend hours together. He’d would have to add lyrics and a choral he had failed. This was his last chance. fumble at the piano, then she’d take his arrangement. She asked Steve’s permission. place. He’d tell her what he remembered To help her father relax, she took him on He considered it an honor. and tried to answer her questions. He a hike the day before they had to be at the struggled to explain what he heard in his After the concert, Naomi told the family doctor’s office. As she pulled into the drive- head. He stood by the piano, eyes closed, Steve’s music was beautiful and profes- way, she brought up Naomi’s offer. listening to his own work, for the first time sional. It needed to be shared in public. For a long while, Steve was silent. being played by someone else. The family rented a former church in down- “Then he asked me why she’d want to Steve and Naomi spoke in code: walking town Portland and scheduled a concert. work with him,” Melissa said. “He said it bass lines, playing just off the beat, inter- Word got out. By the day of the show, more would be a waste of her time.” vals, moving from the root to end a song in than 300 people had said they would attend. a new key. Steve heard it. All of it. He just Why do this? Because, his daughter said, By then, Steve was having a hard time couldn’t play it. she cares. A long pause. And then... remembering the names of some of his The disease, though, took a toll on Steve. friends. He knew the path his life was now “Yes.” And Steve began to cry. One afternoon, he could remember how he taking. He told his family he was at peace. FTER DROPPING HER children began and then ended one of his composi- Steve arrived and sat in the front row, Aat school, Naomi drove to the tions. But the middle, no matter how hard surrounded by his family. The house Goodwin home, where Steve, Joni, he concentrated, was lost. lights dimmed. Naomi took the stage. and Melissa waited. They talked honestly At the next session, Naomi asked Steve if Her fingers. His heart. about the future. Although Steve had they could work together on the middle received the experimental drug, his brain section to save the song. He agreed. With Excerpted from an article that originally was not responding. Steve’s input, she created the passage. Steve appeared in The Oregonian. Reprinted with Naomi told Steve she’d love to hear him loved it, said it was what he would have permission.

THE WEEK May 19, 2017 38 The Puzzle Page

Crossword No. 408: Mom First by Matt Gaffney The Week Contest 123456 78910111213 This week’s question: The luxury Fyre Festival was can- 14 15 16 celed recently after music lovers who had paid up to $50,000 for opulent accommodations and celebrity-chef meals in the Bahamas turned up to find a tent city on a 17 18 19 trash-strewn beach—and no performers. If a musician were to write a song about the disastrous festival, what 20 21 22 23 should the track be titled?

24 25 26 Last week’s contest: The high-end retailer Nordstrom was widely ridiculed after it started selling $425 jeans that 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 come caked with fake mud, to make it look like the wearer was prepared “to get down and dirty.” If Nordstrom were 34 35 36 37 38 to launch a new line of pre-dirtied workwear for lazy fash- ionistas, what name should it give the brand? 39 40 41 42 THE WINNER: Yves Stained Laurent Michael Rouse, Troy, Mich. 43 44 45 46 47 48 SECOND PLACE: J Construction Crew Greg Pal, Mountain View, Calif. 49 50 51 THIRD PLACE: Giorgio Armuddy —Sue Wehrspann, Denver

52 53 54 For runners-up and complete contest rules, please go to theweek.com/contest. 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 How to enter: Submissions should be emailed to [email protected]. Please include your name, 63 64 65 66 address, and daytime telephone number for verifica- tion; this week, type “Festival fail” in the subject line. 67 68 69 Entries are due by noon, Eastern Time, Tuesday, May 16. Winners will appear on the Puzzle Page 70 71 72 next issue and at theweek.com/puzzles on Friday, May 19. In the case of iden- tical or similar entries, the first one ACROSS 64 “Excuse me for a 28 Dog in Garfield received gets credit. 1 Away for the summer, moment,” more 29 Doesn’t just make WThe winner gets a one-year maybe specifically vague accusations subscription to The Week. 7 Part of AD 67 ___ You Being Served? 30 Sports org. bosses 11 “I shoulda known 68 Very, in Vichy 31 Grab, as power that!” 69 List of mistakes in a 32 Place to de-stress 14 Bookstore section book 33 Subject Sudoku 15 Scott of Happy Days 70 Possesses 37 Computer brand 16 Garten in the kitchen 71 Ultimate goals 38 Lively Fill in all the 17 She almost became 72 May 14 honoree— 40 Buxom West boxes so that first lady in 2004 and a word that can 42 Diminutive suffix in each row, column, 19 Zero, in soccer scores precede the first word Italian and outlined 20 Up to now of each theme entry 45 Tried to cure square includes 21 Gobbled up 46 Pan fluid all the numbers 22 Chew out DOWN 47 Private reply? from 1 through 9.

24 Casual gait for a horse 1 Pres. Clinton or 50 65-Down’s org. Difficulty: Obama, e.g. 26 Southern part of 51 Turn in, as a coupon medium Florida 2 Elm or lemon 52 Shul scroll 27 It’s hard to say 3 Donkey-drawn item 53 Tokyo-based luxury 34 Second of 45 4 Big rd. automaker 35 One of the Marx 5 Flat-topped 56 Chips before cards Brothers topographical feature 57 “Shoot!” 36 Tourist’s item 6 Tributary of the 59 Prefix meaning “high” 39 Taipei tapas Missouri River 60 Uninteresting 41 For one 7 Mt. Rushmore name 61 German for “old” 43 “Isn’t that what I said 8 One of 10 salon 62 Deposed ruler of would happen?” purchases Russia Find the solutions to all The Week’s puzzles online: www.theweek.com/puzzle. 44 Tell the teacher about 9 Newswoman 65 ___ Gerald R. Ford 48 ___ beauty Totenberg (newest American 49 Where appeals may 10 Seeping aircraft carrier) ©2017. All rights reserved. The Week is a registered trademark owned by the Executors of the Felix Dennis Estate. be heard 11 Evening list 66 Museum items The Week (ISSN 1533-8304) is published weekly except for one week in each 52 Reclines poolside 12 Cohesiveness January, July, August and December. The Week is published by The Week Publications, Inc., 55 West 39th Street, New 54 Besides 13 Golden rings York, NY 10018. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at additional 55 Anthem heard at 18 Dollar and Enterprise mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to The Week, PO Box 62290, Tampa, FL 33662-2290. One-year subscription rates: U.S. $75; Canada $90; Maple Leafs games rival all other countries $128 in prepaid U.S. funds. Publications Mail Agreement No. 58 Neighbor of Mont. 23 Pres. who was also 40031590, Registration No. 140467846. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6. 60 Only mammal that can a gen. The Week is a member of The New York Times News Service, The Washington Post/ fly unaided 25 Have a loan from Bloomberg News Service, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, and subscribes to The Associated Press. 63 Daiquiri component 27 Small amounts H M O R S

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Pre-Collision1 with Pedestrian Detection2 standard.

Pedestrians can come out of nowhere. So Pre-Collision with Pedestrian Detection can help spot them and brake for you. It’s just one of the standard Toyota Safety Sense™ P (TSS-P)3 features that give you more peace of mind.

Options shown. Dramatization. 1. The TSS Pre-Collision System is designed to help avoid or reduce the crash speed and damage in certain frontal collisions only. It is not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. System effectiveness is dependent on road, weather and vehicle conditions. See Owner’s Manual for additional limitations and details. 2. The Pedestrian Detection system is designed to detect a pedestrian ahead of the vehicle, determine if impact is imminent and help reduce impact speed. It is not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. System effectiveness depends on many factors, such as speed, size and position of pedestrians, and weather, light and road conditions. See Owner’s Manual for additional limitations and details. 3. Drivers are responsible for their own safe driving. Always pay attention to your surroundings and drive safely. Depending on the conditions of roads, weather and the vehicle, the system(s) may not work as intended. See Owner’s Manual for additional limitations and details. ©2017 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.