CONTROVERSY MAIN STORIES PEOPLE

THE NEW A community What Grimes

HUNTER erased by learned from
PROBE wildfire Musk
p.6 Pages 5, 36 p.10

THE BEST OF THE U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Busted in
Georgia
Why his fourth indictment
is the most dangerous
for Trump
p.4

AUGUST 25, 2023 VOLUME 23 ISSUE 1145

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS WWW.THEWEEK.COM

 Contents 3

Editor’s letter
There’s a lesser-known Dr. Seuss tale called What Was I Scared one for hours yet, that’s certainly the fear. The adjustment we’re
Of? It’s an add-on to The Sneetches, and it’s pretty spooky if going through must be a bit like when they took human opera-
you’re around 5 or so. The antagonist is a pair of pale-green tors out of elevators and people suddenly realized they could get
pants with nobody inside them, and the illustrations place those trapped alone inside.
pants firmly in the uncanny valley, awakening horror-movie In the Seuss book, it all ends happily, with the narrator learn-
questions—Why are they running around by themselves? What ing that “I was just as strange to them as they were strange to
makes them go? What do they want? I can’t help but have me.” In the real world, we’re not at all strange to these new
flashbacks to this early childhood trauma when I read about gizmos, because they’re furiously at work collecting data on us.
the new self-driving cars that are now roaming the streets of While we may think we are using them, in fact they’re part of a
San Francisco like mindless Roombas (see Technology, p.20). system that benefits others. The same billionaires selling us on
The robotaxis look like something out of dystopian sci-fi, with the promise of self-driving cars—most notably Elon Musk—
their giant cameras mounted on the roof and their smaller but have been spending gobs to lobby against public transit. As long
still obvious headlight cams. They can mostly see where they’re as we’re in private, subscription-service cars, not trams or trains,
going, supposedly, but one smashed into a public bus, and they can monetize us. A future of ever more robocars, on ever
another abruptly stopped in the middle of a ride and briefly more congested streets? What a scary story. Susan Caskie
locked the passenger inside. While nobody’s been imprisoned in Managing editor

NEWS
4 Main stories
Trump faces RICO Editor-in-chief: William Falk
charges in Georgia; a Executive editor: Theunis Bates
devastating blaze tears
through Maui Managing editors: Susan Caskie,
Mark Gimein
6 Controversy of the week Assistant managing editor: Jay Wilkins
Hunter Biden’s plea deal Deputy editor/Arts: Chris Mitchell
Deputy editor/News: Chris Erikson
collapse threatens election Senior editors: Danny Funt, Catesby
fallout for Democrats Holmes, Scott Meslow, Rebecca
Nathanson, Dale Obbie, Zach Schonbrun,
7 The U.S. at a glance Hallie Stiller
Sheriff raids a Kansas Art director: Paul Crawford
newspaper; a Los Angeles Deputy art director: Rosanna Bulian
Photo editor: Mark Rykoff
shoplifters’ swarm Copy editor: Jane A. Halsey
8 The world at a glance Research editors: Alex Maroño Porto,
Emily Russell
A libertarian front-runner Contributing editors: Ryan Devlin,
in Argentina; Russian The burned-out remains of Maui’s historic Lahaina (p.5) Bruno Maddox
missiles strike Odesa;
conflict in Ethiopia VP advertising: Stevie Lee
ARTS LEISURE (stevie.lee@futurenet.com)
10 People Account director: Mary Gallagher
Grimes on Elon Musk 22 Books 27 Food & Drink (mary.gallagher@futurenet.com)
and her interstellar death The cycles of history in a A peach and almond Media planning manager: Andrea Crino

wish; Busta Rhymes’ Fourth Turning sequel galette for summer’s end; Direct response advertising:
Anthony Smyth (anthony@smythps.com)
lowest moment best of the new Texas ’cue
23 Author of the week
11 Briefing Shane McRae’s 28 Travel SVP, Lifestyle, Knowledge and News:

Why sharks have invaded memoir of a kidnapped Sailing around the Sophie Wybrew-Bond
Managing director, news Richard
the Northeast’s waters childhood Stockholm Archipelego’s Campbell
24,000 islands VP, Consumer Marketing-Global
12 Best U.S. columns 24 Stage & Music Superbrands: Nina La France
Biden’s ill-advised hostage A play about the making Consumer marketing director:
trades; locking younger of Jaws BUSINESS Leslie Guarnieri
Manufacturing manager, North America:
Americans out of voting 25 Film & Home 32 News at a glance
Lori Crook
15 Best international Media Bail revoked for Bankman- Operations manager:
columns Debating the Fried; Target’s culture-war Cassandra Mondonedo

A political assassination usefulness of losses; inflation bump

in Ecuador; Africa, the the NC-17 33 Making money
West’s dumping ground; rating Do you really need Visit us at TheWeek.com.
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racist alter ego; Clarence summer of Taylor Swift;
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Grimes gift at GiveTheWeek.com.

Thomas’ rich friends (p.10) Wall Street’s worst boss
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
4 NEWS The main stories...
Trump charged in Georgia with racketeering
What happened ing for Georgia’s RICO laws, she’s
Donald Trump’s legal peril deepened treating Trump’s desperate, bumbling
this week as a grand jury in Fulton bid to reverse the election as if it were
County, Georgia, charged him and “genius calculation.” Trump’s conduct
18 co-defendants under racketeer- after the 2020 election was “awful,”
ing statutes for trying to overturn but prosecuting it as a criminal matter
his 2020 electoral loss in the state. “instead of leaving the judgment to
It marks the fourth time the former voters and history still seems like a
president has been criminally bad idea for the country.”
indicted since March. Refusing to
accept that he had lost to Joe Biden, What the columnists said
Trump and the others “knowingly This is the indictment that should
and willfully joined a conspiracy to worry Trump most, said Kim Wehle
unlawfully change the outcome,” in The Bulwark. A conviction under
said the 98-page indictment, whose Georgia’s RICO laws carries a
41 counts include conspiracy to minimum five-year term. This is a state
commit forgery, filing false docu- case, not a federal one, which means
ments, and impersonating a public that if Trump wins in 2024, he can’t
officer. District Attorney Fani Willis, “evade the law with a self-pardon” or
who conducted a two-and-a-half- an order that the Department of Jus-
Willis: Trump ‘knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy.’ tice drop all charges. In addition, the
year-long investigation, relied on
Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act trial will connect “viscerally” with jurors by showing that Trump’s
(RICO)—typically used to prosecute mobsters and drug rings—to “astonishing recklessness” harmed real people—election workers
charge Trump and his allies with engaging in a “criminal enter- Ruby Freeman and daughter Shaye Moss, who faced an avalanche
prise” to keep him in the White House. Co-defendants include of threats after Trump and Giuliani falsely claimed they “stuffed the
former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Justice ballot boxes” to steal the election.
Department official Jeffrey Clark, and former Trump attorneys
Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and Sidney Powell. “Race will be front and center in Georgia,” said Richard L. Hasen
in Slate. Freeman and Moss are Black women, as is Willis, and
The indictment charges that Trump and others pressured state offi- “Trump has a history of being especially hostile toward Black
cials to change the outcome, falsified documents to create a slate of women.” It’s no accident Trump focused his 2020 fraud claims on
“alternate” electors, tampered with voting machines, and harassed Atlanta and other Democratic cities with large Black populations.
and intimidated election workers. It cites the now infamous call “The message was clear: Minority voters were stealing the votes of
during which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Trump’s white rural supporters.”
Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes needed to reverse the
results, with the then president warning the state official he could Instead of reflexively defending Trump, Republicans and conser-
be charged with “a criminal offense” if he didn’t comply. vative media must “come to terms with Trump’s legal peril,” said
Noah Rothman in National Review. With four pending trials and
Willis said she intended to try all 19 defendants together. Trump 91 felony counts, Trump will spend primary season “in and out of
called the indictment an effort by a “very corrupt district attor- courtrooms.” If even one case is tried before the election, it “will be
ney” to derail his 2024 campaign. He said he will issue a detailed the media event of this century.” A recent poll found 65 percent of
report that will exonerate him with Americans see the charges against
“irrefutable” evidence of Georgia What next? Trump as “serious.” Is he really the
election fraud. Willis has given Trump and his co-defendants until party’s strongest candidate?
noon on Aug. 25 to surrender, said Shaddi Abusaid and
What the editorials said Jeremy Redmon in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “What was once unprecedented
Willis has brought a “compelling” They’ll report to the Fulton County Jail, where Sheriff has now become surreally routine,”
and necessary case, said The Wash- Patrick Labat has said Trump will be treated like any said Peter Baker in The New York
ington Post. By “zooming out” to other detainee—including having his mug shot taken Times. The four indictments detail
and released to the public, indignities he’s been spared “an alleged presidential crime
target Trump’s many co-conspirators in his previous three arraignments. Willis faces “a wide
along with him, this indictment range of challenges” in prosecuting the case, said Kate
spree of epic proportions,” and yet
“captures the sweep” of a conspiracy Brumback in the Associated Press. Trying all the defen- they’ve failed to dent Trump’s sup-
to subvert “the democratic process.” dants simultaneously would be a daunting proposition port among Republicans. Not long
Any official or political fixer tempted even without a former president on the docket. With 19 ago, a presidential campaign could
to try a replay in 2024 has “now been defendants, “there will be countless legal details and be derailed by a past DUI arrest or
put on notice that robbing voters of basic logistics to argue or work out” before trial— “swiping lines in a speech without
their say comes with consequences.” including finding a venue large enough to accommo- credit.” The notion that “a rap
date everyone. Willis has asked for a trial date of March sheet” of 91 felony counts wouldn’t
4, 2024—a day before the Super Tuesday primaries. disqualify Trump from seeking a
Willis’ indictment “reads like an Legal experts, however, say it’s highly unlikely the
exercise at throwing everything at the Georgia trial will take place before the 2024 election,
return to the White House “would
jury to see what might stick,” said although one or both of the federal trials might. have stunned the 44 presidents who
Getty

The Wall Street Journal. By reach- came before him.”

Illustration by Jason Seiler.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023 Cover photos from Shutterstock, Getty (2)
 ...and how they were covered NEWS 5

Maui counts the dead after apocalyptic wildfire

What happened can “help from a distance, by keeping
Recovery workers using cadaver- a distance.”
sniffing dogs were searching the
charred ruins of Lahaina this week, Democrats have been quick to blame
after the historic Hawaiian town “the carnage on climate change,” said
was obliterated by the deadliest U.S. the Washington Examiner. The real
wildfire in more than a century. At culprit is the invasive grasses that cover
least 106 people are known to have a quarter of Hawaiian territory. Ranch-
died in the Maui inferno, but Hawaii ers began planting those species in the
Gov. Josh Green said the toll could 18th century for cattle to forage, and
double over the next week. Many when plantation agriculture waned, the
survivors said they received no warn- grasses overtook fallow fields, providing
ing from authorities as the blaze, plenty of dry tinder. Democrats’ at-
moving as fast as a mile a minute, tempts to “exploit this tragedy” for their
spread from surrounding grasslands eco-agenda only distracts from on-the-
Walking through the wreckage in Lahaina ground fixes that can slash wildfire risk.
into Lahaina’s densely packed neigh-
borhoods (see Last Word, p.36). Some residents rushed into the
ocean to seek safety; others were incinerated in their cars as they What the columnists said
tried to escape on the only highway out of town. Authorities said Arguments over “how much to attribute the tragedy to climate
most bodies will have to be identified by DNA, and warned that change” are pointless, said David Wallace-Wells in The New York
many children left at home while schools were closed are likely to Times. We can’t know definitively whether global warming wors-
be among the dead. “I don’t have words to express how much my ened Hawaii’s drought or whether it intensified the passing hur-
heart is breaking now,” said one schoolteacher, who is volunteering ricane. But this is how climate change works, “not single-handedly
at a shelter in the hope of finding some of her students. but together with randomness and existing hazard and by making
familiar risks worse.” And we are not sufficiently preparing for
While the cause of the wildfire is not yet known, experts believe it those increasing perils, whether it’s fires or floods or extreme heat.
was fueled by a monthslong drought and 80 mph winds whipped
up by an offshore hurricane. One Lahaina resident said that hours “There are no obvious excuses” for the lack of readiness in Maui,
before the blaze engulfed the town, a power line had snapped and said Costas Synolakis in The Wall Street Journal. None of the 80
ignited a patch of dry grass. Lawyers representing Lahaina residents warning sirens on the island sounded, and broadcast alerts and
have filed a class-action lawsuit against the utility, Hawaiian social media posts were useless to islanders without power or cell-
Electric, saying it should have shut off power as winds picked up. phone service. “Firefighting resources were spread thin,” with only
Officials have forecast that the cost of rebuilding on Maui, where 65 firefighters on the island. Survivors are right to wonder whether
more than 2,200 buildings were destroyed, could near $6 billion. this was a natural disaster, or one caused by very human failures.

What the editorials said The urge to rebuild is strong, said Naka Nathaniel in Honolulu’s
Hawaii’s economy relies heavily on tourism, said the Honolulu Civil Beat. But we Hawaiians must do so without repeating past
Star-Advertiser, but “now is not the time to visit West Maui.” We mistakes. “This was a human-made disaster generations in the mak-
do not want visitors competing for hotel rooms with the thousands ing.” Extractive farming methods allowed invasive weeds to spread.
of residents who have been left homeless or with the recovery Luxury tourism has exacerbated water shortages and sent Maui’s
workers who are desperately needed to restore the “necessities of average home price soaring past $1 million. Priced out from their
life.” Power and cellphone service have not yet been fully restored. own land, more Native Hawaiians now live on the mainland than
Water supplies may have been contaminated by fire-released here. If these deeper problems aren’t addressed, “more of us are
toxins. To people outside Maui who want to aid the recovery, you going to die or be displaced.”

It wasn’t all bad QTwo California condors born in May at Pinnacles National QA football player at Eastern
Michigan University gave up his
Park just had their first health checkup, and passed with flying
QPeggy Konzack, a 102-year-old colors. The endangered species of vulture almost went extinct scholarship to help another player
Roseburg, Ore., resident, has been in the 1980s because of lead poisoning, and this spring 20 who needed it more. Brian Dooley
teaching children how to swim for condors were killed by bird flu saw his teammate Zack Conti
54 years. The mother of two moved in Arizona and Utah. Currently, working several jobs as he went
with Clayton, her now deceased only 347 individuals remain in to school and played football—
husband, to Douglas County in the wild, and 214 in captivity. and even sold blood plasma to
1945, and soon started swimming Reintroduced at Pinnacles two make ends meet. The Eastern
at the YMCA. Eventually, she par- decades ago, the condors started Michigan coach asked the college
ticipated in parent-child swimming nesting in 2009, when they to add one more scholarship, but
lessons and became an instructor reached reproductive maturity. the answer was no. Dooley felt
herself at 48. A vegetarian, Konzack The two newborns are expected that Conti had earned a scholar-
AP, Pinnacles National Park

still does a minimum of 10 laps five to start flying next November. ship, and got his own family’s OK
days a week. “What would I do if Their nests are hidden on high to make it happen. “Asking for
I didn’t?” she said. “Sit home and cliffs, but lucky visitors will get help is not easy,” Conti said, but
sleep? No. I’m going to keep going to see them soaring over the his teammates proved that “they
as long as I can.” Soon ready to leave the nest park during the winter. got my back.”

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

6 NEWS Controversy of the week
Hunter Biden: Will a broader probe damage his father?
President Biden’s re-election campaign faces Hunter’s business partner called “the big
two “real trip wires,” said Jonathan Lemire guy” in emails—played any direct role in the
and Holly Otterbein in Politico: Joe Biden’s influence-peddling scheme. Even if none of the
age, 80, and the investigation into his son estimated $20 million went into Joe Biden’s
Hunter. Just weeks ago, the younger Biden, 53, bank account, said Jonathan Turley in the New
was “mere minutes” from finalizing a plea deal York Post, the president “clearly benefited.”
that would have spared him any prison time These funds were distributed through a laby-
on gun and tax charges. The deal collapsed rinth of shell companies to his son, brother,
when a Trump-appointed judge questioned daughters-in-law, and grandchildren—a quick
whether the plea deal would give Hunter blan- and easy way for Grandpa Biden to funnel
ket immunity for his shady business dealings substantial wealth to his descendants “without
overseas while his father was vice president. heavy taxes or delays.”
Weiss: Now a special counsel
As a result, Attorney General Merrick Garland
last week approved the request of prosecutor David Weiss to con- Republican outrage over Hunter is “cynical and performative,” said
tinue his five-year investigation of Hunter as a special counsel, John Cassidy in The New Yorker. The same “GOP corruption fight-
which could mean a significant broadening of the probe. This is ers” were utterly untroubled by then-President Donald Trump fill-
bad news for the younger Biden, “and a huge political headache for ing his pockets with far greater sums when foreign emissaries and
his father,” said Stephen Collinson in CNN. Even if Weiss finds no lobbyists deliberately booked pricey rooms at his hotels. Trump
evidence that Joe Biden directly profited from Hunter’s influence also routinely billed taxpayers for rooms occupied by Secret Service
peddling, the appointment of a special counsel guarantees “months agents and other federal employees. Nor does the House GOP have
of new material for Republicans seeking to portray President Biden any interest in the $2 billion that the Saudi Arabian wealth fund
as corrupt.” Republicans had been demanding that Garland make invested in Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s new investment firm,
Weiss a special counsel, but now are pivoting to the ludicrous after Kushner steered U.S. policy to benefit Saudi Arabia and his
clam that Weiss—a Republican and Trump appointee—is a stooge personal friend, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
installed to help Democrats orchestrate what House Oversight chair
Rep. James Comer called a “Biden-family cover-up.” There’s no doubt the Trump crimes and corruption were on a
far greater scale, said Ankush Khardori in New York magazine.
Comer’s right, said Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review. Still, liberals should drop their “‘move along, nothing to see here’
Weiss’ appointment is “a farce.” Special counsels are supposed to approach” to the Hunter Biden scandal. There is no question he
come from outside government. Instead, Garland picked the same made millions “trading off of his father’s name and government
U.S. attorney who forged that “indefensible plea agreement” effec- position”—all with the then vice president’s evident acquiescence.
tively shielding Hunter from additional charges. Weiss has never To be troubled by such blatant influence peddling “doesn’t make
shown any interest in exploring whether the elder Biden—whom you an apologist for Trump or anyone in his family.”

Good week for:

Only in America In other news
Clarifications, after Aditya Pai, a Democratic congressional candi-
QSome Trumpified evan- Schumer, McCarthy aim
gelicals are now rejecting the
date from California, announced via email that he was suspending to avoid shutdown
teachings of Jesus as “weak.” his campaign due to “a lack of joy.” Pai quickly retracted that mes-
sage, claiming it was “an emotional processing exercise” distributed Congressional leaders
Russell Moore, former head expressed support this week
of the Southern Baptist Con- in error “by a now former aide.”
for a short-term spending
vention, told NPR “multiple Remote work, with a Washington Post report that Sen. Tommy bill to avoid a government
pastors” have reported that Tuberville, ostensibly of Alabama, no longer owns property in the shutdown on Oct. 1. Sen-
congregants have objected state and has been residing for years in a $3 million beach house in ate Majority Leader Charles
to their preaching Christ’s Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said a
Sermon on the Mount, say- stopgap bill to keep the
ing “love your enemies” is Suicide missions, with a new poll showing Trump critic Chris
Christie with a 1-point lead over Ron DeSantis among New Hamp- government open through
a “liberal talking point” that early December “makes a
“doesn’t work anymore.” shire GOP voters, just 40 points behind Trump.
good deal of sense.” House
QA federal judge in Texas Speaker Kevin McCarthy
has ordered three lawyers Bad week for: (R-Calif.) also told House
for Southwest Airlines to un- Germany, where news that a third of its trains were late last year Republicans in a conference
dergo “religious liberty train- has plunged the famously punctual nation into gloomy introspec- call that he wants to pass a
ing” from a far-right Christian short-term extension when
tion. Late trains, said professor of transport Andreas Knie, are “a lawmakers return to the
group. Judge Brantley Starr,
a Trump appointee, was so cultural crisis for the German people.” Capitol next month. Negotia-
incensed by Southwest’s fir- Sharing the wealth, with a Fox News report that the campaign tions could be complicated
ing of an employee who sent committee of Sen. Bernie Sanders sent $200,000 to the nonprofit by President Biden’s recent
out anti-abortion messages Sanders Institute run by his wife, Jane, which employs her son, request for an extra $40 bil-
that he ordered its lawyers David, on a $152,653 salary. lion in emergency money for
to receive training from the Following directions, after a New Zealand supermarket’s Ukraine, border security, and
Alliance Defending Freedom, more; some House Republi-
AI-powered “meal-bot” suggested a recipe for “aromatic water cans have vowed to block ad-
which opposes abortion and
mix” that would produce deadly chlorine gas. The bot suggested
Reuters

the “homosexual agenda.” ditional funding for Ukraine.

serving the beverage “chilled, and enjoy the refreshing fragrance.”
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 The U.S. at a glance ... NEWS 7
Marion, Kan. Little Rock, Ark. Washington, D.C.
Newspaper raid: News organizations Course denied: The Arkansas Department Warning Trump: Donald Trump
across the U.S. expressed outrage this of Education abruptly removed course launched a string of attacks on the
week after police raided the offices of credit for a new Advanced Placement judge presiding over his 2020 election
a small-town newspaper, the Marion African American Studies program this conspiracy trial this
County Record, week, saying the course may violate a week, just days after
seizing comput- state law prohibiting teaching on topics she warned the for-
ers, servers, and that would “indoctrinate students with mer president not to
the cellphones of ideologies, such as critical race theory.” make “inflammatory”
reporters and edi- Several schools in the state had planned statements that could
tors. The town’s to offer the course, including Little Rock influence potential
entire five-officer Central High School, the site of a historic jurors and intimidate
Stormed by police force also searched desegregation effort in 1957. The deci- witnesses. “It is a
the home of the newspapers’ co-owner, sion, announced on the first day of the bedrock principle,”
98-year-old Joan Meyer, who died the Arkansas school year, comes months after said U.S. District Chutkan
next day—the paper said the raid left her Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the Judge Tanya Chutkan, “that legal trials
“stressed beyond her limits.” Her son, AP course from his state’s high schools. are not like elections, to be won through
editor and publisher Eric Meyer, accused Piloted in some 60 schools last school the use of the meeting hall, the radio,
police of “gestapo tactics” for seizing year, AP African American Studies cov- and the newspaper. This case is no excep-
material protected by a state shield law. ers a wide range of topics, such as mass tion.” Speaking during a hearing on the
A judge-signed search warrant referenced incarceration, the Black Lives Matter scope of a protective order covering dis-
the Record’s investigation of a local res- movement, reparations, and queer studies. covery evidence in the case, Chutkan said
taurant owner who was allegedly driving The College Board said its new curricu- the need to hold a speedy, fair trial takes
without a valid license; the restau- lum “is not indoctrination in any form.” priority over Trump’s 2024 elec-
rant owner said the paper had ille- tion campaign. She added that
gally obtained sensitive informa- if Trump continues to cross
tion, which the Record denied. lines, she may move the trial
The Marion County prosecutor date forward to limit his ability
later withdrew the warrant, to taint the jury pool. Soon after,
saying it had relied on insuffi- Trump wrote on social media that
cient evidence, and ordered the the judge “obviously wants me behind
return of the paper’s equipment. bars. VERY BIASED & UNFAIR.”

Los Angeles Tampa

Smash and grab: About 50 masked Baseball investigation: Tampa Bay Rays
criminals swarmed a Los Angeles shop- phenom Wander Franco was sidelined
ping mall last week and stole nearly by the ballclub this week for at least six
$300,000 worth of luxury handbags and games, after the MLB launched an inves-
clothing from tigation into accusations that the All-Star
a Nordstrom Braxton, Miss. shortstop had a sexual relationship with
depart- ‘Goons’ guilty: Six white former a minor. That investigation is focused on
ment store. Mississippi law enforcement officers a series of viral social media posts that
The thieves pleaded guilty this week to state charges appear to show
attacked stemming from their torture of two Franco kissing a
a security Black men in January. The officers, some young-looking girl
Looting the Nordstrom
guard with of whom called themselves “the Goon in the Dominican
bear spray and then grabbed “easily re- Squad,” broke into a home without a war- Republic; the posts
sellable items” from hangers and display rant after a neighbor reported seeing “sus- claim the pair
cases, said police, who suspect the crooks picious behavior” by several Black men. began a relation-
were following orders from a criminal They encountered Eddie Parker, who lived ship when the girl
organization. Days earlier, a roughly there while taking care of the white prop- was 14 years old.
Franco: Sidelined
40-strong mob stole $300,000 worth of erty owner, and Michael Jenkins, who was The Dominican-
merchandise from an Yves Saint Laurent staying temporarily. While shouting racist born Franco, 22, denied the claims in an
store at a mall in nearby Glendale. Earlier abuse, the officers tased the men, water- Instagram Live video, saying his accusers
this month, nine robbers looted a Gucci boarded them, and attacked them with “don’t know what they’re talking about.”
store in Century City. “This is unac- multiple objects—including a sword and a The attorney general’s office in the
ceptable behavior in a civilized society,” sex toy. One officer put a gun in Jenkins’ Dominican Republic is investigating the
Los Angeles County District Attorney mouth and pulled the trigger, breaking allegations; citing anonymous sources,
George Gascon said. A union representing the local Diario Libre newspaper
Newscom, Reuters (2), Getty

his jaw. The officers then planted a BB

LAPD officers blamed the spike in smash- gun at the scene, falsely charged Jenkins reported that prosecutors believe more
and-grab raids on the county’s elimination with drug possession, and destroyed sur- minors are involved. The age of consent
of cash bail for people charged with low- veillance footage. The officers, who had in the Dominican Republic is 18. Franco
level, nonviolent offenses, saying it encour- already pleaded guilty to federal charges, signed an 11-year, $182 million contract
ages re-offending. each face decades in prison. with the Rays in 2021.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 8 NEWS The world at a glance ...
Belfast, U.K. Odesa, Ukraine
Data leak exposes police: The identities of more than 10,000 Russian onslaught: Ukrainian defenses
Northern Irish police officers were revealed last week after the intercepted barrages of Russian missiles
force mistakenly released a list of their names, ranks, and work- and drones aimed at the Black Sea port
places in response to a freedom of information request. Police in of Odesa this week, although falling
Northern Ireland tend to keep their jobs secret, even from family, rocket fragments caused several buildings
for fear of being attacked by paramilitaries who object to British to catch fire. Odesa has been the target
rule, but now those groups have the data. Sinn Féin, the party of frequent Russian attacks since the Dousing fires in Odesa
that was once the political wing of the terrorist Irish Republican Kremlin terminated a deal in July that allowed Ukrainian grain
Army, said that a printout of the list of officers was tacked on a shipments to depart from the city. Western sanctions have been
wall this week near its main office. A picture of Sinn Féin law- aimed at barring Russia from buying or repairing weapons sys-
maker Gerry Kelly with a sign saying “Gerry, we know who your tems, but a weapons research group said last week that Moscow
mates are” was posted alongside. Kelly, once a member of an IRA has begun making copies of the attack drones it acquired from
splinter group, was a leading negotiator in the 1998 Good Friday Iran last year, which blow up on impact, and is already using them
Agreement that ended decades of violence; he is now a member of against Ukrainian forces.
the Policing Board. Kelly called the implied threat “sinister.”

Rome
Ruling party must pay gay couple: A court has
ordered Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-
right Brothers of Italy party to pay $22,000 to a
gay Canadian couple for using their image in its
homophobic anti-surrogacy campaign. The image
of B.J. Barone and Frankie Nelson weeping as
they held newborn Milo, born by surrogate in
Canada in 2014, was taken by a photographer
friend and quickly went viral. Two years later,
Not authorized
Brothers of Italy used the photo, captioned in
Italian, “He’ll never get to say ‘mama,’” for its anti-surrogacy post-
ers. “That photo has been used many times for educational and
positive reasons,” said Barone, “but using our image for hate and
negativity is something we never wanted.” Meloni’s government
has revoked the rights of some gay parents who used surrogacy.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
U.S. captives released: An American nurse and her
young daughter were set free this week after being held
nearly two weeks by kidnappers. Alix Dorsainvil—who
worked for El Roi Haiti, a Christian aid group run by
her husband, Sandro—was abducted with her child at
gunpoint from the charity’s medical clinic in full view of
waiting patients. Days earlier, the U.S. State Department
had advised U.S. citizens to leave “as soon as possible”
because gangs had taken over large parts of the capital.
Kidnapping is a booming business these days in lawless The Dorsainvils
Port-au-Prince, where more than 1,000 people were
held for ransom in the first half of this year. It’s not clear whether
a ransom was paid for Dorsainvil.
Asunción, Paraguay Buenos Aires
Goodbye, anti-corruption force: Santiago Peña of the ‘The Wig’ wins primary:
ruling, center-right Colorado Party was inaugurated Libertarian outsider Javier
president of Paraguay this week with a pledge Milei—known as “The Wig” for his
to dissolve the nation’s anti-corruption agency. unkempt hair—came in first in Argentina’s
That could hurt relations with the United States, open primary this week, a signal that vot- Milei: Outsider
which recently sanctioned Peña’s political men- ers are fed up with the establishment par-
tor, former President Horacio Cartes, for what ties. Milei, a lawmaker in the lower house, wants to abolish the
the State Department called “involvement Central Bank, replace the peso with the dollar, and loosen gun
in the rampant corruption that undermines laws. The day after his primary win, the peso promptly plunged
democratic institutions in Paraguay.” Peña 22 percent. Milei took 30 percent of the primary vote and will
said the agency, created in 2012, is expensive face the candidates for the two major blocs in the October elec-
Reuters, El Roi, Getty (2)

and ineffective, but insisted his government tion: Patricia Bullrich, of the right-wing United for Change,
would “work hard” to keep organized crime who took 28 percent; and Sergio Massa, of the leftist Union for
out of Paraguayan politics. An economist by the Homeland, who took 27 percent. In his victory speech, the
training, he has promised business-friendly poli- unmarried Milei, who is also a rock singer and tantric sex instruc-
Peña cies focused on job creation and low taxes. tor, thanked his five mastiff dogs, all named for economists.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 The world at a glance ... NEWS 9
Moscow Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia
Currency collapse: The Russian ruble Race to the moon: Russia launched an unmanned
plunged in value this week to less than spacecraft to the moon last week for the first time
a penny, the lowest level since the cur- in almost 50 years, seeking to be the first coun-
rency collapsed early in the war. In an try to land a probe on the icy lunar south pole.
emergency meeting, Russia’s central India launched its own uncrewed lunar craft last
bank hiked the interest rate a signifi- month; each country hopes to put its spacecraft
cant 3.5 points, to 12 percent, but the in orbit and then soft-land a probe near the pole.
ruble rose only briefly before slipping Currency exchange That region is expected to be a vital source of
again. The Kremlin is now considering limiting the flow of capital, water for any future manned moonbase. If all goes
a reflection of growing concern about the effect the war is having as planned, Russia’s Luna-25 rocket will spend Up and away
on the economy. The problem is not just Western sanctions or defi- about a year collecting data on the moon. “It’s a
cit spending on weapons: Russia is also suffering an acute labor demanding and complex operation,” Russian space analyst Vitaly
shortage, because so many men have fled abroad to avoid being Egorov told NPR. “Many countries have tried unmanned landings
drafted. Meanwhile, wealthy Russians have been racing to get their and crashed at that stage. Russia will either join them, or it will be
money out of the country, with the outflow surpassing $1 billion a breakthrough for modern Russian space technology.”
in the days just after the attempted Wagner Group mutiny in June.
Askole, Pakistan
Could hiker have been saved? Pakistan has set up
a commission to investigate whether a Pakistani
hiker who died on K2 last month could have
been saved if other hikers chasing a record had
stopped to help him. The Norwegian mountain-
eer Kristin Harila and her climbing team were
Hassan nearing the 28,251-foot summit of Pakistan’s
K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, when they came across
Muhammad Hassan tangled in ropes and hanging upside down off
a ledge following a fall. Harila says her team did “everything we
could” to assist him, including leaving her cameraman behind to
administer oxygen, before continuing on to the peak. Harila broke
a world record by summiting all 14 of the world’s highest moun-
tains in 92 days, while Hassan died waiting for rescue.

Tehran
Americans to come home: The U.S. and Iran agreed last week on a
landmark deal to secure the release of five Americans imprisoned
in Iran. Under the deal, the U.S. will free several Iranians held in
the U.S. and unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets in foreign banks.
The prisoners, all U.S.-Iranian dual citizens imprisoned for years
on what the U.S. says are unfounded espionage charges, were
transferred this week from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison into an
Iranian hotel; if the deal is completed, they will return home to the
U.S. within weeks. To comply with sanctions, Qatar is to adminis-
ter the Iranian money to ensure it is used only to buy humanitar-
ian goods. Republicans in Congress opposed the deal, with Sen.
Jim Risch (R-Idaho) saying it “dangerously further incentivizes
hostage taking and provides a windfall for regime aggression.”
Niamey, Niger
Deposed president appeals to U.S.: The Nigerien generals who Amhara, Ethiopia
staged a coup last month said this week they would prosecute New civil war: Israel evacuated
ousted President Mohamed Bazoum for treason over his appeals more than 200 of its citizens from
to foreign leaders to help him. Bazoum, who has been detained Ethiopia this week as fighting
AP (2), Adventure Alpine Guides, Getty, AP

for weeks in the presidential palace, recently wrote a Washington between the army and the Fano, an
Post op-ed saying he had been “taken hostage” and ethnic militia in the Amhara region,
calling on “the U.S. government and the entire threatened to spark a new civil war.
international community” to restore his govern- The Fano was one of the militias
ment. The ECOWAS group of West African that helped the government crush
nations, meanwhile, threatened to invade the uprising in Tigray last year,
Evacuees safe in Israel
Niger if coup leaders didn’t release the presi- ending a two-year civil war in that
dent, but its deadline came and went this region. But now the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
week with no action, and analysts said is trying to disband it and other regional security forces, and the
the threat appears to have been empty. Fano says that will leave Amhara vulnerable to militants from the
“It looks as though the putschists have majority Oromo group. Fano militants have attacked army camps,
won and will stay,” said Ulf Laessing looted weapons from police stations, and even raided a prison and
of Germany’s Konrad Adenauer think freed thousands of inmates, while Ethiopian forces have launched
Bazoum: I’m a hostage. tank. “They are holding all the cards.” air strikes that killed at least 26 people.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
10 NEWS People
Busta’s brush with death
Busta Rhymes remembers the exact moment
he hit rock bottom, said Bonsu Thompson in
Men’s Health. After a night of partying in May
2019, the famed rapper was found unconscious
in the back of his car—it took his eldest son and
security detail 45 minutes to pull him out of his
stupor. “I felt ashamed,” says Busta, 51. “I set up
a doctor’s appointment the next day.” The signs
of a health crisis had been building for years. He’d ballooned to
340 pounds and had vocal cord polyps that blocked 90 percent
of his air passage. Busta had avoided surgery, he explains, after
being warned it might change his signature baritone to “closer to a
chipmunk.” There were other indignities. Once, after being intimate
with his then-partner, he felt breathless and suffered a panic attack.
“She was like, ‘Yo, this is not who I fell in love with.’” A couple
days later, “I put my hand out to give my son a pound, and [he]
slapped me on the stomach. I was like, ‘Man, don’t touch my body.’
He was just being funny, but these things never happened when I
had a six-pack.” Busta is now 100 pounds lighter, thanks to throat
surgery and a lot of gym sessions, and grateful to be alive. “I’ve
been super blessed to have people that actually love me so much
that they refuse to let me die.”

The pain of playing Jar Jar Binks

Ahmed Best thought he’d won the acting lottery when he was
cast as Jar Jar Binks, said Alexi Duggins in The Guardian (U.K.). What Grimes learned from Musk
Growing up, Best loved Star Wars so much that he had his mom Grimes has her eyes set on the stars, said Steven Levy in Wired.
sew him Star Wars–themed sheets and clothes. So he was stunned Like her on-again, off-again partner, Elon Musk, the pop star is
when, while performing with the dance troupe Stomp, he was asked obsessed with space travel. “I hope to die in space” says Grimes,
to audition for Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace. “I thought who was born Claire Boucher. “If I died on Earth, in my last
it was a prank,” says Best, now 49. He got the part of Jar Jar Binks’ moments I would regret it.” Grimes, 35, says that watching the bil-
body—CGI would flesh out the alien character—but charmed pro- lionaire Musk run his rocket company, SpaceX, has been “a master
ducers into giving him a speaking role, using a goofy accent he’d class in leadership and engineering, like the best internship ever.”
Her 3-year-old son with Musk, named X Æ A-12, often shadows his
invented to entertain his young cousins. When Phantom Menace
dad at work. “He knows more about rockets than me. His obsession
hit theaters, the backlash to Best’s cartoonish alien was fierce. Fans
is bordering on ‘Is this healthy?’” After an unmanned SpaceX rocket
called for a genocide against Binks’ species. Best’s answer answering exploded in April, X had “like a three-day PTSD meltdown. Every
machine filled with death threats. Most painfully for Best—who is hour, he was waking up and going, ‘Starship...’ and I had to rub his
Black—were the accusations that Binks was a racist caricature that back.” Their nearly 2-year-old daughter, Y, “is a little engineer, too.
spoke in demeaning pidgin English. “It was the lowest I’ve been in She likes industrial shipping. She’s very strange.” People often say
my life,” says Best, who at one point found himself on the Brooklyn the same about Musk, but Grimes says his “hard-core” energy is
Bridge, contemplating suicide. He pulled himself back from the edge simply misunderstood. “Elon has an old-world kind of discipline.
and says he came to realize that the hatred of Binks wasn’t his fault. It rubs a lot of people the wrong way. If you’re not consenting to
“We are addicted to nostalgia,” Best says. “Anything that disrupts being in that hard-core zone, I get it. But he’s challenged me a lot.
nostalgia is going to be faced with severe emotional backlash.” I’m now way tougher and smarter than I used to be.”

called Oher’s lawsuit “outlandish” and a divorced his fourth wife, former supermodel
“shakedown effort,” saying he’d previously Jerry Hall, last year.
QFormer NFL player Michael Oher, whose
threatened to go public with the story unless QRussian model Irina Shayk is getting seri-
journey out of poverty and into football star- the family paid him $15 million. ous about her budding romance with retired
dom was portrayed in the 2009 blockbuster QMedia mogul Rupert Murdoch has report- NFL great Tom Brady, the New York Post
The Blind Side, is suing the couple who edly found love again, just months after reported this week. “She really wants this to
famously took him in as a teenager. calling off a brief engagement to his fifth work,” a source close to Shayk said. “Brady
Oher, 37, claims he learned fiancée. Murdoch, 92, was spotted last week is her white whale. He’s an all-American nice
recently that he wasn’t officially cruising the Mediterranean on a super- guy.” Shayk, 37, previously dated Portuguese
adopted by Sean and Leigh yacht with retired scientist Elena Zhukova, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and actor
Anne Tuohy but was instead 66. She is the mother of Dasha Zhukova, a Bradley Cooper, with whom she shares
duped into a conservatorship Russian socialite and the ex-wife of oligarch a daughter. Brady, 46, divorced Brazil-
at age 18, which let the Tuohys Roman Abramovich. The News Corp boss ian model Gisele Bündchen last October
rake in millions of dollars in roy- split from his last fiancée—former dental after years of marriage. A source close to
alties from the movie. Oher, who hygienist Ann Leslie Smith, 66—in April after Bündchen—who has denied rumors linking
has petitioned a Tennessee court reportedly being spooked by her evangeli- her to jiujitsu instructor Joaquim Valente
to dissolve the conservatorship, cal beliefs. Murdoch has a habit of making and hotel billionaire Jeffrey Soffer—told Us
said he made nothing from the quick turnarounds: He married his third Weekly that the Brazilian is “happy [Brady]
Getty (3)

film. An attorney for the Tuohys wife 17 days after divorcing his second. He has moved on because she has, too.”

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

 Briefing NEWS 11

Fear in the water

A spate of shark attacks off the Northeast coast has swimmers and surfers on edge. What’s behind the biting spree?

Are shark attacks increasing? As his language indicates, marine

The number of people bitten by scientists chafe at the term shark
sharks worldwide has held steady “attack,” and urge the use of shark
at about 70 or 80 a year over the “encounter” or “interaction.”
past decade. But the U.S. Northeast
appears to account for a growing Why is that?
share of those attacks. At least While the 1975 blockbuster Jaws
13 people have been bitten off convinced many people that
New York’s Long Island over the past sharks are bloodthirsty man-
two summers—that’s more than in eaters (see box), the animals are
the previous two centuries. Earlier actually not interested in hunt-
this month, New York City’s popular ing humans. “They generally just
Rockaway Beach had its first attack ignore people,” said Gavin Naylor,
in seven decades, when an unidenti- head of the Florida Program for
fied shark bit a chunk from the leg Shark Research. “If people knew
of a 65-year-old swimmer. Attacks how frequently they were in water
A warning sign at the entrance to Nauset Town Beach, Mass.
are also rising further north. In 2018, with sharks, they would prob-
a boogie boarder was killed on the Cape Cod National Seashore, ably be surprised.” Most bites happen by accident, when a shark
Massachusetts’ first fatal attack since 1936. Maine saw its first fatal mistakes a moving limb for a fish or a surfboard for a seal. When
attack in 2020, when a great white tore into a woman paddling off they realize their mistake, they move on, which is why most shark
Bailey Island. Sightings of great white sharks are now routine along encounters result in minor injuries. Only five fatal shark attacks
the Cape’s popular Atlantic beaches. “The danger is much greater were reported worldwide last year.
than it used to be,” said Heather Doyle, chair of the shark safety
nonprofit Cape Cod Ocean Community. The sharks “have not How are authorities trying to protect beachgoers?
always been here to this degree.” New York has launched a $1 million program to use surveillance
drones to spot sharks. Police patrol the beaches in helicopters
Are there more sharks in the water? while lifeguards roam the waters on Jet Skis. “It’s like a new world
Shark populations have shrunk globally by about 70 percent over we’re living in,” said Cary Epstein, a 25-year veteran lifeguard at
the past 50 years, largely due to overfishing of both the animals and Jones Beach on Long Island. On Cape Cod, officials once wary of
the fish they eat. But that trend is reversing in the U.S., thanks to spooking beachgoers have installed conspicuous warning signs and
state and federal regulations that protect the sharks and their prey. encouraged swimmers not to go in above their waists. They’ve put
In 2013, 15 East Coast states began limiting catches of menhaden, tourniquets and bandages in bright orange boxes on beaches; an
a major food source for sharks. Those fish, also known as bunker, app, Sharktivity, tracks local sightings. Cape officials say they’ve
now thrive in New York’s near shore waters—bringing sharks close been inundated with proposals for high-tech solutions such as using
to swimmers and surfers. In Cape Cod, great whites have rebounded sound waves to drive off sharks, but most have been ignored. It’s
since a 1972 federal law banned the culling of gray seals, which more effective, say scientists, to teach the public to avoid behaviors
the sharks feast on in summer and fall. The Cape is now home to a that increase risk.
booming population of seals and some 800 great whites, one of the
world’s largest populations. “Sharks are a sign of a healthy ecosys- What can swimmers do?
tem,” said Chris Paparo, a shark expert at Stony Brook University Avoid taking a dip at dawn and dusk, when sharks typically feed,
in Long Island. Some scientists believe and stay away from areas where
global warming is also pushing more The Jaws effect seals or schools of fish are pres-
sharks to Northeastern waters. As the first summer blockbuster, Steven Spielberg’s ent, or where seabirds are diving.
1975 smash Jaws upended Hollywood. The movie, Experts also recommend swimming
Why are sharks on the move? which depicts a New England town terrorized by a in groups and avoiding murky
As ocean temperatures hit record flesh-hungry great white, may also have gotten a lot waters where a shark might con-
highs, sharks that prefer frigid water, of sharks killed. “Jaws was kind of a turning point,” fuse them for marine life. When
such as great whites, may be head- said Christopher Lowe, the Shark Lab director. “It got you enter the ocean, be aware that
ing further north to chillier seas. people thinking very negatively about sharks.” Shark- you’re “entering their home,” said
Meanwhile, sharks that normally fishing competitions boomed in the movie’s wake Hans Walters, a shark expert at the
inhabit warmer waters off Florida and few people cared that many species were pushed New York Aquarium. But the risks
and the Carolinas—such as bull, tiger, close to the brink of extinction. Jaws “made it easier also need to be kept in perspective:
for people to say, ‘You know what? These things are More people are killed annually
and black-tipped sharks—can now
a menace,’” said Lowe. “People were less compelled
comfortably roam all the way up to by cows and bees than by sharks.
to protect them.” Some scientists believe shark stocks
southern New England in summer. would have dived with or without the movie, but “Your chances of being bitten are
Hotter temperatures are also pushing Spielberg himself has apologized for its influence. kind of like your chances of winning
more people to the beach in summer “That’s one of the things I still fear,” Spielberg said in the Powerball,” said Christopher
and into the water. There’s more 2022, “not to get eaten by a shark, but that sharks are Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at
“potential to increase interactions,” somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy California State University, Long
said James Sulikowski, a marine sport fishermen that happened after 1975.” Beach. “You have a much bigger risk
Getty

biologist at Arizona State University. driving to the beach.”

THE WEEK August 25, 2023
12 NEWS Best columns: The U.S.
Biden’s President Biden is making Americans “ripe targets” for hostage takers,
said Noah Rothman. The U.S. reached a tentative deal with Iran last It must be true...
dangerous week to secure the release of five Americans unjustly imprisoned inside
the Islamic Republic. In return for their freedom, some $6 billion in
I read it in the tabloids
hostage deal impounded Iranian assets will be unfrozen—money that the mullahs
will supposedly be allowed to use only for humanitarian purposes.
QA Texas woman was at-
tacked simultaneously by
Noah Rothman While it’s welcome news that these Americans will no longer be brutal- a hawk and a snake while
National Review ized in an Iranian prison, this deal shows “the ease with which the U.S. mowing her lawn. Peggy
is extorted by hostile foreign powers” under Biden. The template was Jones was on a riding mower
set during last year’s negotiations with the Kremlin over WNBA star when the snake fell on her,
Brittney Griner. “For the low, low price of taking one athlete hostage,” likely dropped by a passing
Russia won the release of arms dealer and convicted hitman Viktor hawk. As she tried to shake
Bout. Now the Biden administration is reportedly scouring the West for off the 4-foot reptile, which
had coiled around her arm,
“infamous Russians” it can trade for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan
the hawk swooped down to
Gershkovich, who is being held in a high-security Moscow prison on retrieve its meal, stabbing
bogus spying charges. Biden wants to show the world that “Americans Jones with its talons. After
do not leave their own behind”—but all foreign autocrats see is the its fourth dive, the bird flew
concessions they can win by seizing our citizens. off with the snake. Covered
in blood, Jones rushed to the
ER and relayed her story to
A GOP plan Vivek Ramaswamy has a bold plan to give Republicans a lock on power,
said Jamelle Bouie, and it involves stripping millions of Americans of their
a doctor, who asked if she
was on drugs. “It was a very
to silence votes. The GOP presidential candidate is pitching a constitutional amend-
ment that would raise the voting age from 18 to 25, with exceptions for
bizarre, harrowing experi-
ence,” she said.
young voters those who pass a civics test or perform national service. Ramaswamy,
polling third behind Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, QA trainee instructor at a
Colorado driving school
Jamelle Bouie calls his plan a remedy for “a loss of civic pride” among Americans. crashed
The New York Times What it’s really trying to fix is the GOP’s unpopularity with voters under through
30, who broke for Democrats 68 to 31 percent in the 2022 midterms. the school’s
Rather than appeal to this bloc, Ramaswamy would “remove the vast front win-
majority from the electorate altogether.” To be clear, this “novelty policy dow while
from a novelty candidate” is going nowhere. The country is so divided attempting
along partisan lines that the Constitution is effectively unamendable. But to park,
Ramaswamy’s plan is yet more evidence of the GOP’s turn against the leaving his
principal of majority rule. You can see it in DeSantis’ removal of elected Hyundai
prosecutors who disagree with him, and in Trump’s attempt to end lodged
democracy after his 2020 defeat. “Ramaswamy is playing the same song. beneath
There’s almost no one in the Republican Party, at this point, who isn’t.” a sign reading “Learn to
Drive.” The driver “was a
new employee on his second
Judge Tanya Chutkan is now an official member of the “progressive pan-
Judges theon,” said Michael Schaffer. Almost as soon as the district court judge
day,” said Community
Driving School owner Steve

don’t need was assigned to Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 case, Etsy stores started selling
T-shirts emblazoned with “Judge Chutkan Fan Club” and “Presidents
Rohman. He added that the
trainee, who had not yet

fan clubs Are Not Kings,” a reference to a 2021 ruling she issued against Trump.
On social media, activists hailed the Obama appointee as their “hero.”
started teaching students,
was no longer employed at
the school.
Michael Schaffer Given the basics of Chutkan’s biography, an immigrant and a woman
Politico of color, and Trump’s incendiary history of personal attacks on judges, I QFed up with roaming
understand the impulse to “show what side you’re on.” Other public ser- peacocks who peck at cars,
vants who’ve wound up in Trump’s crosshairs—Robert Mueller, Anthony poop prodigiously, and
Fauci—have been similarly lionized. This time, liberals should pause their issue deafening mating
calls, residents of Pinecrest,
praise. Trump’s main critique of his criminal case is that “it’s a partisan
Fla., have landed on a fix:
plot countenanced by a rigged judicial system.” A progressive culture peacock vasectomies. It’s
that turns an impartial judge into a resistance folk hero simply fuels his “the perfect solution,” said
claims of bias. If progressives want to make pop-culture icons “out of Joe Corradino, mayor of the
people who battle Trump, they ought to stick to folks who go out and Miami suburb, where the
get elected—not public servants doing an officially apolitical job.” peacocks’ numbers—and
related complaints—have
soared over the past decade.
Viewpoint “It’s well-established that sexism is among the biggest predictors of hostility to
Lakewood, Colo., Police Department

A trapper will bring the birds

abortion rights. The anti-abortion movement has never been focused on sav-
to a veterinarian for the
ing babies; it has been focused on restoring traditional gender roles, with men enjoying a monopoly
procedure; afterward, they’ll
on political, economic, and social power, and women dependent on and submitting to them. Giving
women control over our reproduction was a key break from the old model—it was what offered recover in a pen until they’re
women the power to participate as full citizens in our society. Conservative efforts to restrict reproduc- ready to return to the streets.
tive freedoms are much more about denying women full citizenship than about preserving fetal life.” “They’re not having any more
Jill Filipovic in her Substack babies,” said Corradino.

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

14 NEWS Best columns: Europe
Greeks are battling tourists for beach space this pass.” Fed up, locals began getting up at dawn,
GREECE summer with their only weapon: a towel, said well before the tourists or vendors, and laying
Ilias Psychogiou. No, they aren’t getting it wet down towels. Soon, Santa Maria was theirs again,
Why Greeks and twirling it into a whip; they’re simply laying
it gently on the sand to claim a spot. The “towel
and the Towel Movement spread to other Greek
islands. “Citizen protests are good,” of course, but
are taking up war” began in June, when residents on the island of this one feels curiously limited. Where is the out-
Paros got fed up with all the tourists’ beach chairs rage over the other “sins of the tourist industry,”
towels occupying Santa Maria beach. Under Greek law, like the garbage that has turned Paros’ forests into
beaches are public, and beach bars that rent out landfills or the overdevelopment that’s “squeezed
Ilias Psychogiou
chairs can’t fence off the sand for the use of only dry” our freshwater springs? I suspect protesters
Capital
their paying customers. In practice, though, the law tolerate those problems because their ranks include
isn’t enforced, and on many beaches there’s “barely those very locals who sold their land to developers.
room between the lounge chairs for a waiter to A tidy profit can buy a lot of tolerance.

GERMANY Pony up and shut up—that was Brazil’s message from lands cleared in the Amazon region “goes
for Europe at last week’s Amazon summit, said north.” Germans and other Europeans buy Brazil-
Rainforest Niklas Franzen. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
demanded that rich countries pay $100 billion
ian hardwoods for our flooring. We feed our pigs
Brazilian soybeans. Even much of the beef we eat
destruction is each year toward saving the rainforest—an unful-
filled promise made back in 2009—and spare him
comes from Brazil, where—thanks to cheap, il-
legally cleared Amazon pastureland—raising cattle
our fault too the lectures about the evils of deforestation. The costs half what it does here. “We want cheap
smackdown is well deserved. How can we lecture groceries, South America delivers.” In turn, those
Niklas Franzen
Brazil about the need to preserve the ecosystem agricultural exports fuel Brazil’s economy. We can’t
Taz when Europe “clear-cut a large part of its own expect a country, or its farmers, to forgo that in-
forests a century ago”? The simple truth is that it come without some compensation. “It is only logi-
is our demand for cheap goods that has fueled the cal that the industrialized nations should dig into
destruction of the rainforest. A significant percent- their pockets.” After all, we are the primary driver
age of the raw materials and the crops that come of the global climate emergency.

France: The rise of Fox News–style, far-right media

France’s main Sunday newspaper has Jeanticou in Telerama.fr (France).
become a megaphone for the extreme When it finally returned to newsstands
right, said Jon Henley in The Guardian last week, the paper had “swerved
(U.K.). Journal du Dimanche is a French toward far-right opinion journalism.”
institution, the paper that has set the The cover story—on a teenager named
agenda for French politics every week Enzo who had been knifed to death,
for 80 years. So its takeover this summer presumably by immigrant youth—was
by right-wing billionaire Vincent Bolloré not only lurid but also riddled with
came as a shock not just to readers but “factual errors and ethical lapses.” The
also to the paper’s own centrist-minded story reported that local parents had
journalists. They were particularly aghast signed an open letter demanding action
at the news that noted xenophobe against crime—but failed to disclose
Geoffroy LeJeune had been appointed that the letter was actually the brain-
editor-in-chief. LeJeune was fired from JDD staffers were on strike for weeks. child of a JDD reporter. JDD even
his last job, editing Valeurs Actuelles, ran the wrong cover image, showing
because that magazine grew so racist that it ran afoul of French a march for a different kid, a car crash victim also named Enzo.
hate-speech laws. He’s also “a leading supporter” of far-right When confronted, the paper tried to gaslight its critics by insist-
politician Éric Zemmour, who promotes the “racist great re- ing that the photo was not misleading. With that lie, the transfor-
placement” theory. JDD’s staff asked for a pledge that the new mation of a respected paper “into a tabloid” was complete.
management wouldn’t print “racist, sexist, or homophobic
statements,” and when LeJeune refused, the newsroom revolted, The outrage over this ownership change is breathtakingly hypo-
going on strike for six weeks. Now more than half of the paper’s critical, said Philippe Bilger in Causeur (France). The staff didn’t
journalists have quit, to be replaced by more compliant staffers even give LeJeune a chance to prove himself; they simply walked
poached from other Bolloré properties. off their jobs in a pious huff. Clearly, “those who claim to defend
diversity in the press do not believe in it at all, but spurn any
The acquisition of JDD is just another step in Bolloré’s quest “to opinion that is the least bit conservative.” Yet if we don’t reject
build a counterweight to what he sees as the leftist bias of French opinions that aren’t grounded in fact, said Le Monde (France)
media,” said Leila Abboud and Adrienne Klasa in the Financial in an editorial, we risk ending up like the United States. When
Times (U.K.). When he bought the TV channel i-Télé in 2015, he Fox News adopted Donald Trump’s “new religion of alternative
“gutted the staff” and rebranded the station as CNews, “a French facts,” alleging the 2020 election was stolen, the result was the
version of Fox News” that now spouts right-wing talking points. Capitol insurrection. The U.S. media’s hard-right turn “seriously
Already, the same thing is happening at JDD, said Romain weakened democracy.” It could happen here too.
Getty

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

 Best columns: International NEWS 15

Ecuador: Is the nation becoming a lawless narco-state?

The assassination of a top presidential international drug trade, violence began
candidate in Ecuador just days before rising. “Dismembered corpses began
the election has plunged the country into to appear on the streets,” and “bodies
a “deep political crisis,” said Christian hung from bridges.” Weeks before Vil-
Pérez in La Hora (Ecuador). Last week, lavicencio’s death, a mayor was killed;
Fernando Villavicencio, an investigative one week after, a local politician. Call it
journalist who had become an anti- the “Mexicanization” of Ecuador, said
corruption lawmaker, died in a hail of bul- Ricardo Raphael in Milenio (Mexico).
lets as he was leaving a campaign rally in “Murdering politicians is one of the
Quito. Police quickly killed the suspected most frequent symptoms.” To manage
gunman and have since arrested at least the narco-trade, “complicity of the
six others, all Colombians, in connection authorities” is a must. Lawmakers who
with the killing. But those men are likely can’t be bribed are simply eliminated.
Villavicencio’s funeral in Quito
just hired muscle. Ecuadorean authorities
say they’ll work with the FBI to discover the “masterminds” of Villavicencio had hoped to save Ecuador from becoming a
the plot. Ecuador desperately needs that outside assistance, said full-blown “narco-state,” said Reinaldo Páez in El Comercio
Hugo Marcelo Espin Tobar in Plan V (Ecuador), because our (Ecuador). First as an investigative reporter and then in the
police are clearly not up to the job. How is it that the wounded National Assembly, he fearlessly denounced the growing
gunman was not given medical assistance but was “allowed to “symbiosis between politics, insurgent organizations, and drug
die of his wounds en route to prison,” robbing the investigation trafficking” and exposed “scandalous acts of corruption” by
of the most important source of information? And how is it that politicians who had become obscenely wealthy overnight. Voters
an entire unit of police guarding Villavicencio could not keep him were paying attention: Just before his death, Villavicencio had
safe? The slain politician warned us that organized crime had jumped from fifth to second place in the eight-person presiden-
corrupted the Ecuadorean police. It looks like he was right. tial race. Now his Construye party has tapped Christian Zurita,
another investigative journalist, to replace him—but Zurita has
The mere suggestion would have been unthinkable a few years never held elective office, and it’s unclear whether he can draw
ago, said Santiago Piedra Silva in Infobae (Argentina). Ecuador Villavicencio’s voters. Whoever wins, said Simon Pachano in
was one of Latin America’s safest countries, an “island of peace” El Universo (Ecuador), must focus first of all on finding the
between cocaine-producing Colombia and Peru. Drug shipments murderers. The day before he was killed, Villavicencio announced
passed quietly through the country on their way to American he had “new evidence of corruption in the forthcoming priva-
consumers without leaving much of a mark. But over the past tization of the oil industry.” Let’s start there. The best tribute to
five years, as local gangs Los Lobos and Los Choneros joined the Villavicencio’s memory will be to “carry on his work.”

Africa has become a dumping ground for the necessary for health and survival,” an $89 fridge
GHANA West’s junk, said Kofi Agyarko. The U.S. and sounds great. But it’s not the bargain it appears.
Europe routinely export used and older-model re- These old clunkers are in fact “zombie appliances”
How ‘zombie frigerators and air-conditioners to African nations
at a steeply discounted price—not out of the good-
that can’t be fixed because spare parts have been
discontinued. Even when they do work, they suck
appliances’ ness of their hearts, but to save manufacturers the up vastly more energy than today’s models, and the
expense of disposing of these huge hulks and their poor people who buy them end up paying more
keep us poor toxic refrigerants. Because these models use “obso- over time than if they’d shelled out for a new one.
lete, ozone-depleting” hydrofluorocarbons, they’re Ghana halted the import of used refrigerators in
Kofi Agyarko
unsellable in countries that have signed on to cer- 2013, but an online black market has proved hard
Ghanaian Times
tain global climate treaties. Sure, for those living to tame. Ideally, the U.N. will one day ban these
“hand-to-mouth in a developing country” where polluters altogether. Until then, Africans are left to
“cooling appliances are increasingly becoming deal with the West’s poisoned hand-me-downs.

LEBANON The banning of the Barbie movie shows how Sunni, and Christian—and frankly, even many
far Lebanon has fallen from its days as the Shiites “don’t share his values.” In any case, had
Seeing a oasis of tolerance in the Arab world, said Hovik
Habashian. To justify the ban, Culture Minister
Mortada watched the film (he proudly told us he
did not), he would have seen that Barbie is actually
threat from Mohammad Mortada gave an Oscar-worthy
speech claiming the film “promotes sexual devi-
a “progressive film of women’s empowerment,” if
a bit “obvious and superficial” for my taste. His
a plastic doll ance” and “ridicules the role of the mother, ques- ban, though, is not as trivial. Lebanon was once “a
tioning the very necessity of marriage.” In short, haven for musical and artistic works and perform-
Hovik Habashian
he declared, Barbie is contrary to our religion ers that had been banned in other Arab countries.”
An Nahar and values. Excuse me? “Do we now have only Now it is in thrall to a culture of ignorance and in-
one religion and one value system in Lebanon?!” tolerance, with clerics vying for political influence.
Mortada may be a devout Shiite, but this country With a government afraid of a film about a plastic
Reuters

is about equally divided at one-third each Shiite, doll, we are becoming “a farce among nations.”
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
16 NEWS Talking points
Noted Young Republicans: The racists in their midst
QMore than 300 high-level “Rising young stars of the their masculinity, they deliver
military officers are unable mainstream right” keep a “vicious backlash” to any
to assume their positions being “outed as bigots,” said contrary voices, whom they
due to a block on Senate Anthony L. Fischer in The view as capitulators in the
approvals of military pro- Daily Beast, raising unset- “great battle against the
motions by Sen. Tommy tling questions about modern forces of darkness.” It’s true
Tuberville (R-Ala.). The conservatism. First, influential that “a Nietzschean right has
top spots in the Army, pro–Ron DeSantis blogger become more prominent in
Navy, and Marine Corps Pedro Gonzalez was exposed recent years,” said Matthew
are vacant as a result of
for writing anti-Semitic and Schmitz in The American
the blockade, launched to Hanania, right, interviews Andreessen.
racist commentary on group Conservative. Still, its mem-
protest a Pentagon policy
that pays expenses for ser- chats. Weeks later, a speechwriter for DeSantis’ bers remain “marginal” figures who have few fol-
vice members who must campaign, Nate Hochman, was fired after he cre- lowers outside Twitter. But the Left leaps on cases
travel to another state for ated and posted a video superimposing Nazi imag- like Hanania to tar all conservatives as bigots.
an abortion. ery over the Florida governor’s face. Then rising
The Washington Post conservative star Richard Hanania was revealed Hanania is no fringe figure, said Christopher
to have spewed “racist bile” under an alias on alt- Mathias in HuffPost. He’s “a right-wing star”
right websites in past years. Calling himself a “race who has lectured at Yale and written for The
realist,” Hanania argued against “miscegenation” Wall Street Journal. Elon Musk “replies approv-
and in favor of sterilization for “low IQ” people, ingly to his tweets,” and Silicon Valley billionaire
who he said were typically Black. Hispanics, he Marc Andreessen has appeared on his podcast.
wrote, lack the “IQ to be a productive part of a Such fans now profess shock at Hanania’s past
first world nation.” These unveilings suggest the comments, said Amanda Marcotte in Salon, but
Right needs a “spiritual housecleaning,” but it’s a he’s made almost identical remarks under his own
QNearly 49,500 people conversation that few conservatives want to have. name. Hanania recently said America needs more
took their own lives in the “incarceration and surveillance of Black people,”
U.S. last year—the highest Young right-wing culture has changed since and that liberals “dislike anyone acknowledging
number on record and Donald Trump’s ascendance, said David French statistical differences between races.” This ugly
about 3 percent above the in The New York Times. “Blatantly racist, sexist, affair makes clear that the only difference between
toll in 2021. The widening and homophobic speech” abounds among the “so- tech titans decrying “wokeness” and “redhats
availability of guns is driv- called new right,” who are united against a “woke” screaming at Trump rallies” is optics. “At the end
ing the trend, said suicide left they regard as an existential threat. Insecure in of the day, they share the same vile bigotries.”
researcher Jill Harkavy-
Friedman. Suicide at-
tempts involving firearms
are far more likely to result Clarence Thomas: A justice’s generous friends
in death than those using
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas may be tice, pumping money into books, museums, and
other means.
Associated Press
“paid like a government employee,” said Jonathan fake Twitter accounts that portray Thomas as the
Chait in New York magazine, but he vacations modest, misunderstood “savior of the Constitu-
QAbout 30 cents of every “like a king.” A new ProPublica investigation tion.” Among the projects financed by his wealthy
dollar spent so far this details the “millions of dollars’ worth of luxury fan club is the “ultra-reverent” 2020 documentary
year by Donald Trump’s Created Equal, in which the jet-setting Thomas
travel” bestowed on Thomas by wealthy benefac-
various political commit-
tors, including ex–Berkshire Hathaway exec David claims to prefer RV parks and Walmart parking
tees has gone to legal fees
and investigation-related
Sokol and oil baron Paul Anthony Novelly. Since lots to “beaches and things like that.”
bills. In total, the groups joining the court in 1991, he’s been treated to at
least 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, Supporters of Thomas argue these exposés are
spent some $27 million on
a dozen VIP passes to sporting events, and eight “part of a liberal plot to discredit the court’s most
legal costs in the first six
months of 2023. helicopter rides. The late H. Wayne Huizenga, conservative member,” said Ruth Marcus in The
The New York Times founder of AutoNation and Waste Management Washington Post. “But it is Thomas who’s doing
Inc., sent a 737 to collect him at least twice. Pro- the discrediting”—of himself and the institution in
QFederal agents made 74 which he serves. Approval of the Supreme Court
arrests for violent threats Publica had previously revealed private jet flights
and yacht trips lavished on Thomas by billionaire now polls at a record-low 40 percent, said Noah
made on public officials last
GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, which Thomas Bookbinder and Dennis Aftergut in the Los Ange-
year, up from 38 in 2013.
Such threats have escalat- shrugged off as something “friends do.” Perhaps les Times. To rebuild trust in this crucial institu-
ed over the past five years, Thomas’ buddies are simply generous. Or perhaps tion, the justices must—“like other judges and
said extremism researcher they hope their largesse will “insulate him from the most Americans in any profession”—be subject to
Seamus Hughes, who links social pressure that has pushed other Republican- an enforceable code of conduct. A bill that would
the rise to the normalizing appointed justices toward the ideological center.” set standards for recusals is now working its way
of violent rhetoric and the through the Senate, but seems likely to be blocked
ease of making threats via Thomas’ pals have “bought him a lot more than by Republicans. That leaves it to Chief Justice John
YouTube, Getty

social media. vacations,” said Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Roberts to take action and order an investigation
NPR Stern in Slate. They have also sought to construct of Thomas. If he doesn’t, the court will remain
a “cult of personality” around the right-wing jus- stained by Thomas’ “intolerable corruption.”
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 Talking points NEWS 17

Alabama brawl: Celebrating Black self-defense Wit &

When a Black man is attacked
by a gang of racists, it usually
instigators getting the whoop-
ing they deserved. Admirers
Wisdom
ends horribly, said Solomon dubbed a 16-year-old who “No one made a greater
Jones in The Philadelphia swam across the harbor to mistake than he who did
Inquirer. But this time “was dif- join the fight “Black Aqua- nothing because he could
ferent.” A group of white men man” and “Shaquille O’Gills.” do only a little.”
in Montgomery, Ala., recently Maybe we’re not “quite as Edmund Burke, quoted in
docked their pontoon boat divided” as it often seems. Adventist Today
at a spot reserved for a large “An advanced city is not
riverboat loaded with 227 pas- Rewind the video to the
one where even the poor
sengers, and for 45 minutes moment when Pickett was use cars, but rather one
refused requests to move by the knocked to the ground, “out- where even the rich use
commercial vessel’s co-captain, numbered and overwhelmed,” public transit.”
Damien Pickett, who is Black. said LZ Granderson in the Colombian politician
Black bystanders defending Pickett Los Angeles Times. “Do you Enrique Peñalosa, quoted in
Pickett then climbed onto the Toronto Storeys
dock to move their boat himself and was attacked wonder when and how the beating would have
by multiple men, reportedly amid shouts of “F--- stopped if Black people hadn’t intervened?” The “What is wanted is not the
that n-----!” But a large group of Black people sad truth is that white onlookers did nothing to will to believe, but the wish
witnessing the attack rushed to Pickett’s aid, and aid the Black guy getting a beating—as is so often to find out, which is its
a wild racial brawl ensued. Afterward, four white the case. Throughout history, self-defense hasn’t exact opposite.”
boaters were charged with misdemeanor assault, been an option for Black people under attack, said Bertrand Russell, quoted in
The Knowledge
and a Black man was charged with disorderly Charles M. Blow in The New York Times. That’s
conduct. When a video of “the uprising” went why this incident, and its venue, felt like “therapy” “The highest result of
viral, Black people celebrated the remarkable and a “historical correction” for us. “It happened education is tolerance.”
moment of Black unity and defiant self-defense. on a riverfront where enslaved people of African Helen Keller, quoted in
Why? “We are tired of being victimized.” descent were transported to be sold in a city” that Good Housekeeping
later played “a key part in the civil rights move-
“Q: How many conspiracy
It’s not just Black people celebrating, said Jeff ment.” By standing up in “righteous indignation,” theorists does it take
Charles in Newsweek. The melee spawned “a slew Pickett’s Black protectors sent a powerful message to change a light bulb?
of parody videos and memes” from people of all that “no people are obligated to endure violence A: Do your own research.”
races mocking the “obnoxious, entitled” white without defending themselves or being defended.” Comedian Darren Walsh,
quoted in The Telegraph (U.K.)

Trump: Disqualified by the 14th Amendment? “I’m not interested in

what any prophet said. I’m
interested in what you, as
In a “rather gobsmacking” development, said addressed the problem of Southern states send- a follower of that prophet,
Charlie Sykes in The Bulwark, two conserva- ing Confederate officials to Washington after actually do.”
tive constitutional scholars are arguing that the the Civil War, and the terms “insurrection” and Novelist James McBride,
quoted in Slate
14th Amendment makes Donald Trump ineligible “rebellion” should apply to “only the most seri-
to run for president—even if he is never con- ous of uprisings against the government.” Trump “Marriage is a fine
victed of any Jan. 6–related crime. Law profes- has not been charged with inciting an insurrec- institution, but I’m not
sors William Baude of the University of Chicago tion, and to interpret the statute broadly would ready for an institution.”
and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University set an “ominous” precedent, opening the door to Mae West, quoted in
of St. Thomas argue in a law-review article that its misuse by “bad actors.” The Independent (Ireland)
Trump’s attempted coup d’état “automatically”
disqualifies him under Section 3 of the amend- Read the plain language of the amendment, said
ment, which bars anyone from elected office who Timothy Snyder in his Substack newsletter. Baude
has “engaged in” or “given aid or comfort” to an and Paulsen’s “powerfully argued” case reaches Poll watch
“insurrection or rebellion.” The scholars say that the “obvious conclusion” that Trump tried might-
ily in several extralegal ways to overturn an elec- Q66% of American
“every official, state or federal” who oversees adults say they have
elections has the authority to bar Trump from the tion he clearly lost, and thus “engaged in insurrec-
a personal or family
ballot. Baude and Paulsen are not “Biden-loving tion and rebellion, and gave aid and comfort to
connection to alcohol or
partisans,” said Matt Ford in The New Republic. others who did the same.” Legally, the argument
drug addiction. Of those,
They belong to the Federalist Society, the power- is “very compelling,” said Zack Beauchamp in 76% say it has had an
ful right-wing organization that helped stock the Vox. But in this incendiary political climate, it’s impact on their family re-
Supreme Court with conservatives. Their “genu- also “a recipe for disaster.” Even if Trump’s dis- lationships. Whites (67%)
inely originalist” reasoning might resonate with qualification survived every legal challenge all the are more likely to have
those justices if federal or state officials act on way up to the Supreme Court—“a very big ‘if’”— had family members
their “compelling” legal analysis. MAGA Republicans would see it as “more proof who suffer with addic-
that the system is rigged against them.” They very tion than Blacks (58%) or
That analysis would enable partisan officials to likely would react with violence. Whatever the Hispanics (56%).
willfully “disqualify their political opponents,” Constitution says, “the Trump problem is very KFF poll
said Michael McConnell in Reason. Section 3 hard to solve through the law alone.”
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
18 NEWS Pick of the week’s cartoons

THE WEEK August 25, 2023 For more political cartoons, visit: www.theweek.com/cartoons.
Pick of the week’s cartoons NEWS 19

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

20 NEWS Technology

Robotaxis: An open road for driverless cars

California is kicking its robotaxi rollout group has begun “coning” self-driving
into high gear, said Trisha Thadani and taxis—“placing a simple orange cone on
Jeremy B. Merrill in The Washington the hood,” which seems to “paralyze a
Post. Cars without drivers are already state-of-the-art autonomous vehicle.” The
becoming “a common sight on San Fran- activists have a point: Self-driving cars
cisco’s winding, hilly, and often foggy should not be an excuse for Americans to
streets.” But they’ve been limited in their repeat the mistakes of the 1920s, making
areas and time of operation, and in some cities even more “auto-centric.”
cases have had human safety monitors on
board. Last week, California regulators— I wanted to love robotaxis, said Elaine
over objections from San Francisco city Moore in the Financial Times. “Elimi-
officials—voted to lift most restrictions nating human error would undoubtedly
for the two leading self-driving car com- make roads safer.” But then came the
Cruise’s taxis can now freely roam San Francisco.
panies, Waymo and Cruise, letting them time I hailed a Cruise car. “A few minutes
charge for rides anywhere in the city 24/7. It’s “a pivotal mo- into the journey, the car suddenly changed course,” inexplica-
ment” for the industry, which has grown to more than 40 com- bly quadrupling the estimated time to arrival. Then the car just
panies clocking “millions of miles on public roads every year.” stopped. We tried to exit but the doors remained locked. “It
was only for a few seconds,” but it will make me pause before
If this is the future, it’s still a work in progress, said the Los hopping in another robotaxi anytime soon. These horror sto-
Angeles Times in an editorial. One San Francisco driverless ries remain the exception, said Benjamin Schneider in the MIT
vehicle rolled into an active fire scene and blocked a fire hose. Technology Review. Over the past few years, Cruise and Waymo
Others have stopped dead in the middle of traffic, light-rail have “racked up over a million relatively uneventful, truly driv-
lines, and fire station driveways. There were 93 reported traf- erless miles each in major American cities.” At certain times in
fic incidents involving robotaxis in March alone. California San Francisco, I’d estimate that “1 in 10 cars on the road has no
regulators shouldn’t be “giving robotaxis a free pass.” Driverless driver behind the wheel.” I’m amazed by how few people “are
cars could shake up city streets the way gas-powered automo- aware of how quickly this industry is advancing,” or have con-
biles did a century ago, said David Zipper in The Atlantic. The sidered the near-term labor and transportation impacts. Because
backlash has been similar, too. In San Francisco, one activist “like it or not, robotaxis are here.”

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

Smartphones wither in the heat proficient in” using AI to aid their learning.
Smartphone batteries aren’t built for this type But anti-plagiarism tools to detect AI-written
of heat, said Joanna Stern in The Wall Street content, such as Turnitin.com, “are notori-
Journal. “I’ll spare you the chemistry class, but ously unreliable.” Jessica Zimny, a sophomore
there are complicated reactions that occur in at Midwestern State University in Wichita
a lithium-ion battery. As you increase the tem- Falls, Texas, “said she was wrongly accused
perature, the speed of that chemical reaction of using AI to cheat this summer.” Now she
Some companies think hydrogen also increases,” which can cause the battery to screen-records herself doing assignments to
represents the key to decarbonizing drain faster. Both Apple and Samsung suggest avoid similar problems.
aviation, said Dhananjay Khadilkar
in Ars Technica. At the recent Paris
95 degrees is “the highest ambient temper-
ate your phone should be in.” But “ambient” Flirting apps don’t get the date
Air Show, French startup Beyond
Aero showed off a new plane that exposure isn’t the only cause of detrimental AI-powered dating apps aren’t delivering
is powered by “a complete hydro- overheating. Fast-charging your phone too smarter matchmaking, said Eari Nakano and
gen fuel cell power train,” which often (which generates heat) or using your Caelyn Pender in Bloomberg. We sampled a
the company said it has success- phone while it’s charging “can also it make it few of them. Teaser AI pitches a “ghosting-
fully tested. Airbus plans flight- overheat” and degrade the battery over time. free” experience by having new users first
tests for its ZEROe project in 2026. chat with a bot, which learns their “common
And a British-American startup, AI chaos in college classrooms speech patterns” and biographical details
ZeroAvia, is developing hydrogen
engines “that can be retrofitted Teachers need more guidance on how to before it finds potential matches. It sounds ef-
onto existing aircraft.” ZeroAvia is handle AI in the classroom, said Pranshu ficient, but in our test, “the chatbot invented a
testing a 600 kilowatt—or roughly Verma in The Washington Post. The arrival personal friendship with Andy Weir, author of
800 horsepower—prototype on a of chatbots like ChatGPT last winter “sowed The Martian, and claimed a degree from New
19-seat Dornier 228 aircraft. One confusion and panic among educators” who York University.” Another app, Iris Dating,
downside to hydrogen is that the say they witnessed “a stark rise in plagiarism uses AI to “process users’ preferences” for
engines are much heavier than tradi- and reduced learning” when AI bots went what they find appealing in a person’s face,
tional turbines, reducing their flight mainstream. Across the country, “some univer- down to precision “details such as the distance
range significantly. But ZeroAvia
sities have modified their dishonesty policies between the eyes.” But it didn’t work for us;
believes the range “will still be ade-
quate” for most business travelers. to take AI into account, but others avoid the “neither of our testers were matched with
Getty

subject.” Still others argue “students should be other users” whom they found attractive.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 Health & Science NEWS 21

A breakthrough for postpartum depression

The Food and Drug Administration has day stay in the hospital. The researchers
approved the first-ever pill specifically for caution that the trials followed patients for
postpartum depression—a breakthrough only 45 days, and didn’t involve women
for a condition that affects about 1 in 8 who breastfed or who had depression
new mothers in the U.S. Zuranolone, before giving birth. Still, the findings are
which will be sold under the brand name hugely encouraging for a condition that
Zurzuvae, was shown in clinical trials to can interfere with a mother’s ability to care
begin easing depressive symptoms within for her infant or other children and can
just three days, much faster than general- cause significant emotional distress. It can
purpose antidepressants. And the course even be fatal: Suicide is a leading cause
The condition can affect 1 in 8 new mothers.
lasts only two weeks, rather than many of maternal deaths within a year of child-
months. It is also the first treatment for birth, yet fewer than 10 percent of women improve the treatments that are available
the condition that can be taken at home; with perinatal depression get treatment. to women so they have choices,” Kristina
the only other option, brexanolone, is an “We need to improve screening, we need Deligiannidis, one of the doctors who led
expensive IV infusion that requires a three- to improve access to care, and we need to the clinical trials, tells Bloomberg.

Wegovy’s heart benefits Just 2,400 steps will help

The weight-loss drug Wegovy cuts the risk If you’re not hitting 10,000 steps a day,
of serious heart problems by as much as don’t sweat it. That supposedly magical
20 percent, a clinical trial has shown. The number for optimal fitness was actually
study involved more than 17,000 adults made up back in the 1960s by Japanese
ages 45 and over, all of them overweight marketing executives promoting a new
or obese patients who had cardiovascular pedometer. Now the largest study of its
issues but not diabetes. The results haven’t kind—covering data on more than 225,000
yet been peer-reviewed, and the company, people across multiple countries—has
Novo Nordisk, hasn’t revealed whether shown that the real daily target should be
the cardiovascular benefits were the result much lower: just 2,337 steps, to be exact.
A wanderer in the galaxy of the drug itself or the weight loss it pre- That, scientists concluded, is the minimum
sumably triggered. But if the findings are required to reduce your risk of dying pre-
Rogue planets are everywhere confirmed, it would upend the perception maturely from heart disease or stroke. Still,
Free-floating planets are roaming the of Wegovy as a purely cosmetic treat- if you can keep going, you should. Push it
Milky Way, unattached to a host star, just ment and increase pressure on insurers to up to 3,967 steps, and you’ll cut your risk
out there on their own. Scientists used to cover prescriptions for it. An earlier trial of dying from any cause. Walk even farther,
think there were billions of such rogue showed that the type 2 diabetes treatment and those health benefits will continue to
planets in our galaxy, reports TechSpot, Ozempic—which uses the same core ingre- increase all the way up to at least 20,000
but a new study says that estimate was off dient as Wegovy—could cut risk of cardio- steps a day, with each extra 1,000 steps
by orders of magnitude: It’s more likely to vascular issues by 26 percent. The new associated with another 15 percent reduced
be trillions. That would mean such “dark” study shows that this group of drugs can risk of dying from any cause. “Our study
planets are six times more abundant than also reduce that risk for people who don’t confirms that the more you walk, the bet-
those that orbit a sun, such as Earth and have diabetes. “Historically, trials of drugs ter,” lead author Maciej Banach, from the
its neighbors in this solar system. The new for weight loss have been very unsuccess- Medical University of Lodz in Poland, tells
study also contradicted earlier, disputed ful,” Cleveland Clinic’s Steven Nissen tells The Times (U.K.). “We found that this
research suggesting that most free-floating CNN.com. “This is an important trial, and applied to both men and women, irrespec-
planets were the size of Jupiter. Instead, the I think the term ‘landmark’ is appropriate.” tive of age.”
new study found, rocky, Earth-size planets
form the vast majority—indeed, they are “but always keeping one eye on other
probably about 180 times more common Tamarins clamber back
threats.” The recovery is particularly
than Jupiter-like giants. How all these The cutest animals in Brazil’s Amazon remarkable because it comes in the wake
rogue planets formed is not yet clear. One rainforest have made a remarkable of a devastating outbreak of yellow fever,
theory holds that when two protoplanets comeback since a conservation effort which killed off a third of the species
smash into each other, the impact can began in the 1970s. There were once only between 2014 and 2019. Conservationists
knock one of them out of the nascent star about 200 golden lion tamarins in the came to the rescue, vaccinating hundreds
system. Co-author David Bennett of NASA wild, reports O Eco (Brazil), but of monkeys. The next step is to ensure
says the abundance of rogues in the Milky the latest survey shows that that the Amazon regions where most
Way suggests that this formation process the population has ballooned tamarins live are protected. “We
is “maybe more common than theorists to 4,800. While the long-tailed, already have more than 2,000
copper-colored monkeys are tamarins in protected areas,”
might have guessed.” But it remains a mys-
still considered endangered, the Ferraz says, “but they live in
terious area of astronomy. Scientists are rebound is impressive. “We are smaller forest fragments
still not entirely sure whether rogue planets celebrating,” says Luís Paulo than we need. Connecting
are truly rogue at all—it may just be that Ferraz, head of the Golden forests is our biggest long-
their orbit is too wide for us to determine
Getty (3)

Lion Tamarin Association, Golden lion tamarin term challenge.”

their host star.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
22 ARTS
Review of reviews: Books
expects that Gen X will emerge as the
Book of the week perfect pragmatic leaders to navigate
The Fourth Turning Is Here: the way, in the mid-2030s, into a new
generation-long period of national
What the Seasons of History renewal. His fellow Boomers are villains
Tell Us About How and When in his analysis—so severe, authoritar-
This Crisis Will End ian, and greedy that they’ve earned the
by Neil Howe Millennials’ rage. Fortunately, he views
(Simon & Schuster, $32.50) Gen X as aging like a fine wine.

“The future is always unwritten, but “If this all sounds a bit too neat, it
that does not mean it should not be is,” said Francis Fukuyama in The
written about,” said Dominic Green in New York Times. If you believe that
The Wall Street Journal. In the 1990s, history repeats itself in a predictable
Neil Howe and a co-author wrote two A youth protest against current abortion and gun laws
four-generation cycle, you have to look
books that laid out a theory about his- devastating crisis, or “fourth turning,” every at the ugly, contentious two decades after
tory’s cyclical pattern that has been touted four generations. the Civil War as either a golden age or an
at times by prominent boosters from Al anomaly. You also have to accept that crisis
Gore to Steve Bannon. The predictions that Howe, who coined the name “Millennials,” events as different as the Civil War and
Howe and William Strauss made in 1997’s anticipates varied crisis roles for each of World War II can prompt the coming of a
The Fourth Turning of a coming civil crisis today’s living generations, said Nick Lich- springlike period in which the nation is rela-
reaching its climax in 2020 didn’t quite tenberg in Fortune. His theory “labels the tively equitable and united. Howe predicts
come true, but they were “close enough Millennials as the ‘hero’ generation, destined that America’s next spring will probably
to suggest the value of cyclical theories of to confront the Boomers in a struggle over arrive on the other side of about a dozen
history,” and Howe has now hit best-seller the direction of the country’s economic years of crisis, but he acknowledges that his-
lists with a solo follow-up that predicts how and political future.” And as those clashing tory is such that we might instead be head-
our current crisis phase might resolve. The cohorts push America toward a destructive ing toward catastrophic war, a prolonged
book builds on the “bold” idea that modern reckoning like those the nation met before breakdown phase, or simply many more
society generates divisions that lead to a in the Civil War and World War II, Howe years of things as they are. “You pick.”

The Slip: The New York City “There were times when life on the Slip
Novel of the week Street That Changed American must have felt like the kind of cornball
The Heaven & Earth Art Forever biopic in which someone famous pops up
Grocery Store every 30 seconds,” said Jackson Arn in The
by Prudence Peiffer (Harper, $39)
New Yorker. Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper
by James McBride (Riverhead, $28) Prudence Peiffer’s Johns, and Frank O’Hara would drop by,
James McBride’s latest, in a sense, is new group biography and Andy Warhol shot a film there. But
“a murder mystery locked inside a “pays homage to an despite growing press attention, “the area
Great American Novel,” said Danez irretrievable era of was never overrun by hangers-on—there
Smith in The New York Times. In 1972 artistic productivity,” was always a community but never really
Pottstown, Pa., a human skeleton is said Air Mail. In the a scene.” The art produced on this one
found in a well. But the story of how 1950s, a short street
it got there takes us back to the 1920s, block “shared no obvious brand or style.”
that dead-ended at Though some worked scavenged materi-
when the effort to protect a deaf Black the waterfront in
orphan from institutionalization knitted als into their assemblages and others took
Lower Manhattan inspiration from the color of trees on the
together Black and Jewish residents
of the city’s Chicken Hill neighbor- was home to a small street, the residents’ output was unified
hood. McBride, a National Book Award community of artists most meaningfully in the way it pushed
winner, “knows that the best story- including Ellsworth against more cohesive movements.
tellers take their time,” and his excur- Kelly, Agnes Martin, and Robert Indiana.
sions into every corner of Chicken Hill, Those three went on to become famous and Of course, the Slip’s golden era couldn’t
starting with the titular grocery, turn rich, but they and their lesser-known peers last, said Walker Downey in Art in America.
to gold as this “heart-blistering” work “may have been happiest” on Coenties One by one, artists moved away, and by
advances toward its mischievous con- Slip, making art in crumbling warehouses the late 1960s, most of the Slip’s buildings
clusion. Though McBride doesn’t shy where sailmakers once worked. Any book had been demolished to make way for high-
from addressing the biases of the era, that treats New York as a character in itself rises. “But the artists who departed were
said Ayana Mathis in The Atlantic, “he “runs the risk of over-romanticizing the not the same as when they arrived,” and
always gives us a spoonful of sugar to
city,” said Anna Furman in the Associated Peiffer’s intimately detailed book “allows
help the medicine go down,” and “the
sugar is the spitfire dialogue, his char-
Press. But Peiffer does so with a clear us to see how the legacy of the Slip figured
acters’ big personalities, and prose so purpose: “to make vivid how the post- into postwar abstraction, fiber art, pop art,
agile and exuberant that reading him is industrial landscape of Lower Manhattan and minimalism, leaving few developments
like being at a jazz jam session.” became the material, sometimes literally, of in American art untouched by the small
Getty

the artists’ work.” street’s ocean spray.”

THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 The Book List ARTS 23
Best books…chosen by Andrew Lipstein Author of the week
Andrew Lipstein works in the financial-services industry and is the author of the
acclaimed 2022 novel Last Resort. In his latest, The Vegan, a hedge-fund manager Shane McCrae
with a troubled conscience develops a strong distaste for mindless consumption. Poet Shane McCrae was
slow to realize that he was
Assembly by Natasha Brown (2021). This Trust by Hernan Diaz (2022). Absolutely no one kidnapped as a young child
book made me want to play to the top of was surprised when Hernan Diaz’s latest novel and raised by his abductors,
my intelligence in my own writing. Natasha won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year. Wildly said Wyatt Mason in The
Brown’s debut glides on crystalline prose, her ambitious in plot and form, Trust somehow New York Times. In his new
acuity like nothing I’ve seen before. Even while manages to tell a gripping story about, of all memoir, Pulling the Chariot
detailing boardroom tensions at a London bank, things, American finance in the 20th century. of the Sun,
she doesn’t waste a single word. At times I Meanwhile, the humanity seeping out of its he explains
forgot to breathe. pages builds and builds, culminating in a breath- that he was
taking, provoking final chapter. just 3 in 1979
Seize the Day by Saul Bellow (1956). Bellow when his
knew just when to dive deep, and when to wield Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854). Dickens, white grand-
a light touch. In this brilliant tale of a privileged as the ur-chronicler of wealth’s effect on moral- parents took
layabout failure, movements in the commodities ity, should be read in historical context. The him from
market let us know exactly where things stand ethics of the characters in this relatively short his Black
in the larger story. In Bellow’s hands, lard prices Dickens novel may be somewhat unambiguous, father for a sleepover and
can feel like the score to a game much greater but the story is brimming with conflict, stakes, never brought him back. They
than we mortals can comprehend. and drama. moved from Oregon to Texas,
told him his father didn’t want
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (1961). The The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe him, and tried to indoctrinate
heady existentialism and vague yearning of (1987). You can’t think of the modern finance him with their white suprem-
this National Book Award winner make it a novel without thinking of Wolfe’s infamous acist worldview, even teach-
favorite among novelists. In stockbroker Jack “Master of the Universe” concept—a money- ing him to salute Hitler. Even
“Binx” Bolling’s quest for meaning, you’ll feel maker who can move oceans with the snap of after his grandfather’s physi-
like you’re getting the mirror image of the stock a finger. But at the heart of Bonfire is the inter- cal abuse prompted McCrae
market: a world where there are no “stakes,” yet play between law and wealth. In the end, we’re to break away from them as
a teenager and find his father
life itself seems to be on the line. relieved to discover, money can’t buy everything.
by looking him up in a Salem,
Ore., phone book, the reality
of what his grandparents had
Also of interest...in espionage tales done took decades to sink in.
“The weird thing about grow-
Spies By All Means Available
ing up kidnapped,” he says,
by Calder Walton (Simon & Schuster, $35) by Michael G. Vickers (Knopf, $35) “is if it happens early enough,
For anyone up on Cold War his- No one has done more to advance there’s a way in which you
tory, “it is hardly news that the America’s long war against militant kind of don’t know.”
Soviet Union spied a lot,” said The Islamism than Michael Vickers, said McCrae’s memoir reads
Economist. “But there are few Andrew J. Bacevich in The New York like an avant-garde prose
accounts as comprehensive as this Times. In his “illuminating and richly poem—which feels fitting,
one,” compiled by a Harvard-based detailed” memoir, the former Green given how elusive facts had
historian who has traced the Soviets’ initial espio- Beret, CIA covert operations officer, and de facto been for him while growing
nage advantage back to Lenin, then detailed how head of the Pentagon’s war on terrorism confesses up. But the book inspired
the post-1945 spy race shaped the Soviets’ conflict a career-long faith in outgunning all adversaries. McCrae’s father to request
with the West. The author’s day job, which puts But while early triumphs reinforced that belief, that his name finally be
him in regular contact with ex-spies, lends the vol- his book “loses its swagger as it moves closer to added to McCrae’s birth cer-
ume “both scholarly clout and an insider feel.” the present,” revealing his vision’s limitations. tificate. The author himself
officially took his father’s sur-
Flirting With Danger The Red Hotel name two decades ago, said
Tonya Mosley in NPR.org,
by Janet Wallach (Doubleday, $30) by Alan Philps (Pegasus, $30) which was his way of right-
Baltimore heiress Marguerite Harrison When war breaks out and Western ing a wrong, embracing his
“could have led a pleasant if unevent- journalists rush in, “truth will Blackness, and rejecting his
ful life,” said Moira Hodgson in not always come out,” said Paul grandparents’ effort to make
The Wall Street Journal. Instead, she Musgrave in The Washington Post. him believe that Blackness is
became a reporter as a young widow That’s the principal lesson of Alan shameful. In that sense, his
and used her charm and intelligence Philps’ new book about the Moscow story is the story of all Black
Americans, as he humbly
to become a spy in post–World War I Europe, and hotel where foreign correspondents passed World
admits. “I wouldn’t ever claim
wound up imprisoned in Russia before agreeing War II drinking Kremlin-funded vodka, sexually to be, you know, the repre-
to work as a double agent. Though author Janet harassing Kremlin-funded female interpreters, sentative story,” he says. “I
Wallach too readily accepts Harrison’s written and filing stories based on Soviet propaganda. think my story is a represen-
version of events and never deciphers her subject’s One hero who emerges: a female interpreter who tative story.”
Getty

motives, she “tells a good story.” helped one reporter glimpse the real Moscow.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
24 ARTS Review of reviews: Stage & Music
The Shark Is Broken
Golden Theater, New York City ++++
There is no shark in the new performances “cool off from
Broadway show about the mak- nervous imitation into a truer
ing of Jaws, but “you don’t miss dynamic.” But the play, “intent
it for one second,” said Tim on remaining lightly comic and
Teeman in The Daily Beast. knowing, keeps delivering what
“A clever, generous play with is familiar and unchallenging.”
three terrific performances,” The
Shark Is Broken zooms in on the Fortunately, the story behind The
lead actors in Steven Spielberg’s Shark Is Broken gives the play “a
iconic 1975 blockbuster as they bit more bite,” said Jesse Green
wait unhappily on a small boat in The New York Times. Robert
while technical difficulties with Shaw, who died in his early
the movie’s mechanical man- 50s just four years after mak-
eater create frustrating delays. ing Jaws, is played by his son
As actors playing Roy Scheider, Ian, “who could be his father’s
Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert twin.” Ian also co-wrote the play,
Shaw bicker, brood, and blow off and “this is quite clearly a love
steam, the play “wittily excels letter, if a complicated one, to
Prickly boatmates Brightman, Shaw, and Donnell
not just as a time capsule, but a parent who achieved greater
as an examination of male bonding and brace yourself for “audience-pandering” success in the same field as his son.” Playing
competitiveness.” The trio isn’t in any way jokes about how no one will remember Robert as a man who drank to excess and
a team of heroes. “They’re not companion- Jaws in 50 years, or how Spielberg might sometimes bullied his fellow actors, Ian
ably three-men-in-a-boat, and neither are follow up this schlocky movie by making Shaw also delivers a stirring rendition of his
they waiting for Godot. They’re waiting for one about UFOs or dinosaurs. Stars Colin father’s famous speech in Jaws about the
a goddamned model shark.” Donnell, Alex Brightman, and Ian Shaw do 1945 sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. In
credible impressions of their famous big- this climactic set piece, the younger Shaw
The play “leans heavily on your assumed screen counterparts, and a mid-play scene “shows us how fine an actor his father was
awareness of what would soon happen,” in which the men discuss their fathers “hits and thus, in an Oedipal somersault, how
said Jackson McHenry in NYMag.com. So at something emotionally” as the actors’ fine he is, too.”

Noname Neil Young Mikaela Davis

Sundial Chrome Dreams And Southern Star
++++ ++++ ++++
Sundial is more than The latest release that “The harp hasn’t found
Noname’s first album Neil Young has freed much mainstream suc-
in five years, said Rob from his archives is cess as a lead instru-
Sheffield in Rolling also “one of the more ment, but these warm,
Stone. “The sound of famous ‘lost albums’ in inviting songs make it
an artist who hasn’t rock history,” said Fred feel possible,” said Brad
lost any of her passion Thomas in AllMusic. Sanders in Pitchfork. On
for making music—or Prepared for a 1977 Mikaela Davis’ “stirring”
making trouble,” it’s “exactly what you release before Young changed his mind, second album, the singer-songwriter makes
were praying the new Noname album Chrome Dreams strings together 12 songs the soft tones of her primary instrument
would be”: a “jazzy groove” whose “elo- that each eventually surfaced in one form feel like an integral element of a particular
quent, furious, funny” lyrics make clear or another, right up to 2020, on official strain of rock. The Rochester, N.Y., native
why so many fans were worried when the Young releases. But “the flow, atmosphere, and her tight touring band show an easy
Chicago poet and rapper started talking and overall impact” of this set is very dif- chemistry as they work through passages
about quitting music back in 2019. Now 31, ferent than the uneven album that he did of “rugged alt-country, twangy roots rock,
Noname remains a political radical who’s put out in 1977, and though casual listeners paisley-bedecked Laurel Canyon psychede-
uneasy with rap’s typical role in American might not notice certain subtle variations in lia, and jam-band choogle.” And when she
culture, said Craig Jenkins in NYMag.com. such well-known tunes as “Powderfinger” sings, Davis, like Sheryl Crow, “manages
Across 11 songs, she “bristles at the busi- and “Like a Hurricane,” Young devotees to find emotional profundity while sound-
ness of selling pain, issuing challenges “will appreciate the specifics of the listening ing monumentally unbothered.” Davis and
to her peers, her fans, and herself.” On experience.” All in all, “it’s a fantastic col- her “mesmerizing” band have clearly come
“Namesake,” she calls out Kendrick Lamar, lection of songs that, had it been issued in into their own, said Maeri Ferguson in No
Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z for playing this form, would have been considered in Depression.“It is no simple thing to find
the Super Bowl, which she frames as a the upper tier of Young’s catalog,” said Mark where you fit and make it your own,” but
spectacle that serves militarism and a strati- Richardson in The Wall Street Journal. Long this group has arrived there. Onstage, they
Matthew Murphy

fied economy. Still, the “most affecting” a top contender for best artist of the 1970s, play a “jam-heavy version” of the “groovy
tracks unspool more personal tales. “Part of he would have won even more adherents pop” Davis has been writing since her 2018
her brilliance is she never lets anyone rest had Chrome Dreams come out when it was debut. But the “dazzling sonic textures” of
easy for too long—least of all herself.” first put together. this record are pleasures in themselves.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 Review of reviews: Film & Home Media ARTS 25

Cinema’s ‘scarlet letter’: A new ratings debate

“Has the NC-17 rating become an ogetic sensuality have been all but banished
unworkable anachronism?” asked Owen from the mainstream since the heyday
Gleiberman in Variety. That’s the question of erotic thrillers in the 1980s and early
Hollywood needs to finally answer now ’90s.” The shift began as studios became
that the Motion Picture Association has “increasingly corporate in their thinking,”
decided to slap its most prohibitive rat- tailoring their output to play internationally,
ing on the acclaimed indie film Passages including in conservative countries. Today,
(see review below). The decision stirred up we’ve arguably hit “a perfect-storm moment
new debate about where to draw the line where far-right conservatism has converged
on depictions of sexuality in movies, and with post-MeToo liberal timidity.”
if the ratings board decided that viewers
under 17 should be barred from seeing the The male co-stars of ‘Passages’
Mainstream cinema’s “overriding lack of
film because the members consider a gay interest in everyday life” has also played
sex scene more troubling than a sex scene The sex in Passages is “neither particularly a role, said Sam Adams in Slate. But let’s
between a man and woman, that’s “a despi- explicit nor remotely gratuitous,” said not argue merely that sex scenes are neces-
cable double standard.” But arguing about David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter. sary to telling certain stories. “Part of what
whether the industry’s rarely deployed scar- Director Ira Sachs couldn’t very well tell a makes movies (and art more generally)
let letter was used fairly is a concession that story about a man cheating on his husband important is that they serve as an implicit
the NC-17 label still has value. In an age with a woman without including lusty rebuke to a strictly utilitarian view of the
when kids can see anything and everything scenes. Still, “the fact that everyone now world. We don’t need movies the way we
online, a rating that scares away any view- makes such a big deal of those moments is need food or water, but we need them to
ers is nothing but “a de facto way of pun- an indication of how rare they’ve become.” remind us that being alive is more than
ishing a film in the marketplace.” As has been widely noted, “sex and unapol- drawing breath.”

Passages There are plenty of raging narcis-

sists in movies, but “few of them
Tomas, the film “transcends famil-
iar love-triangle clichés” by never
Directed by Ira Sachs can compare to Tomas Freiburg,” asking either character to blame the
(Not rated) said David Fear in Rolling Stone. other. And though anxious, control-
++++ The lead character in Ira Sachs’ ling Tomas seems at ease only when
A narcissist boldly cheats headline-making new romantic having sex, the beds in which he
on his husband. drama, played by German actor finds connection with others are
Franz Rogowski, is a dictatorial also minefields that reveal buried
film director and a sexy charmer tensions. “A biting and literate plea-
with a near-sociopathic lack of sure,” Passages is “the kind of film
interest in anyone else’s feelings. Rogowski’s magnetic monster we don’t see often from American
That’s bad news for both his husband, Martin, and directors,” said Richard Lawson in Vanity Fair. It
a young French woman with whom this “gorgeous has gained notoriety because of an NC-17 rating
parasite” embarks on an unapologetic affair. Sachs, that its distributor officially rejected, but it’s “not
a veteran indie director, “excels at choreographing a tawdry movie.” Instead, it’s “a piercing and often
all manner of intimacies,” said Hannah Giorgis in very funny character piece,” made by a director who,
The Atlantic. As Ben Whishaw’s Martin and Adele instead of judging Tomas, is perhaps “just as fool-
Exarchopoulos’ Agathe navigate the chaos of loving ishly infatuated with him as Martin and Agathe are.”

Video Games animated 174 hours of cutscenes—the

sum of thousands of branching dialogue
Baldur’s Gate 3 choices—and there are more than 1,000
No video game can match the infinite alternate endings to the main story.
possibilities of a tabletop role-playing Because no two players will play the
game. “But Baldur’s Gate 3 sure does a same way, Baldur’s Gate 3 is “the perfect
stellar job of emulating the concept,” said couples’ game,” said Sadie Gennis in
Kenneth Shepard in Kotaku. Arriving at Polygon. My husband, for example,
a moment when interest in Dungeons always chooses a cautious course of
& Dragons is sky-high, this D&D-based action. “Meanwhile, I’m motivated by
RPG “throws you into the deep end” giving in to every dumb impulse I have,”
of a fantasy world where every char- fans, said Nic Reuben in The Guardian. especially if it leads to a little chaos or in-
acter has a backstory, every choice has You and five “wonderfully voice-acted” game romance. “Would freeing the caged
consequences, and every puzzle has goblin get us into trouble? Of course. Do
MUBI/Everett (2), Larian Studios

companions venture into the wilderness,

numerous solutions. An “exceptionally delve into dungeons, and talk, fight, and I want to do it just because? Of course.”
rewarding” sequel that was six years in think your way through countless quests. It’s a win-win: “I need my husband’s sen-
the making, “the game is dense to the What makes Baldur’s Gate 3 special is the sibility and willingness to grind when I’d
point of being overwhelming”—in a good “seemingly limitless” scope of its story- otherwise give up. And he wouldn’t have
way. The basics will be familiar to RPG telling. Belgian developer Larian Studios half as much fun if it wasn’t for me.”

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

26 ARTS Television
Streaming tips The Week ’s guide to what’s worth watching
Late-summer chills... BS High
The Passenger Ohio’s Bishop Sycamore High School football
A timid fast-food employee team hit the big time two summers ago when
is forced to ride shotgun it appeared on ESPN in an early-season game
with a sociopathic co-worker against a perennial Florida powerhouse. But it
after the mass murder turned out that the school didn’t exist, except as
that opens this spare but a scam engineered by head coach Leroy Johnson.
effective new horror thriller. In this new documentary, Johnson attempts to
$6 on demand explain himself, while players and their families
Influencer detail how participants up to age 21 signed up for
A social media influencer the promise of athletic glory and wound up in a
traveling in beautiful coastal program with no classes, limited equipment, and
Thailand puts too much little food. Wednesday, Aug. 23, HBO and Max
trust in another young Ghosn: A fallen magnate fights back.
woman who knows all
Invasion
the region’s secret spots. Slow pacing plagued this expensive-looking alien-
invasion series when its first 10 episodes arrived decide how far she’ll go to keep her past a secret.
But this clever new thriller Thursday, Aug. 24, Netflix
leaves you wondering in 2021. But in the words of co-creator Simon
which of four main char- Kinberg, that was “the quiet before the storm.” Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn
acters can be trusted, and The spider-like aliens are now evolving into more Carlos Ghosn was once one of the world’s most
which should be feared. vicious foes, while the scattered human charac- esteemed business leaders. But the man who
Shudder ters introduced in Season 1, played by Golshifteh revived Renault and Nissan was arrested in Japan
Daughter Farahani, Shiori Kutsuna, Shamier Anderson, and in late 2018 for allegedly underreporting his
In this promising recent others, are each working out how to fight back. compensation. This new docuseries revisits his
debut feature, a young Wednesday, Aug. 23, Apple TV+ rise and sudden fall, including his daring escape
woman is kidnapped by a Explorer: Lost in the Arctic from Japan inside a large shipping case. Ghosn,
family whose menacing
Many a bid to find a navigable Northwest who has lived as a refugee in Lebanon ever since,
patriarch is determined that appears on camera to tell his side of the story.
she play the role of subser- Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
has ended in disaster. This new entry in the Friday, Aug. 25, Apple TV+
vient daughter. Though the
premise is constraining, Explorer documentary series focuses on a recent Other highlights
the screenplay effectively National Geographic expedition to determine Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity
draws on fears about the fate of Sir John Franklin, commander of A three-part documentary reconstructs the life
rising authoritarianism. an 1845 voyage that led to the disappearance and career of influential jazz saxophonist Wayne
$3 on demand of all 129 passengers, evidence of cannibalism, Shorter, who died earlier this year but shared his
Lyla and many deadly attempts to retrace Franklin’s story in lengthy interviews. Friday, Aug. 25, Prime
A writer hoping to knock out route. Thursday, Aug. 24, at 10 p.m., National
Geographic You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
his first novel holes up in a
remote cabin with his wife Adam Sandler and his real-life family co-star in a
Who Is Erin Carter? comedy adapted from a 2005 young-adult novel.
and young son. But this new A passable late-summer action series set against
Tubi original puts a spin on Friday, Aug. 25, Netflix
The Shining by pairing his
an idyllic Spanish backdrop casts Kurdish-
mental spiral with a formi- Swedish actress Evin Ahmad as a wife and mom 2023 U.S. Open Tennis Championships
dable spouse who’s bent on who’s living a quiet life as a schoolteacher in Rising stars Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa
protecting a secret. Tubi Barcelona until she foils a supermarket robbery Vondrousova look to carry the momentum of
by flashing some special ops–level fighting skills. their Wimbledon championships into this year’s
Enys Men With authorities showing keen interest in dis- final Grand Slam tournament. Coverage begins
The title is Cornish for
covering who she really is, our heroine has to Monday, Aug. 28, at noon, ESPN
“Stone Island,” and the set-
ting a small uninhabited isle
where a lone wildlife volun-
teer is slowly going mad,
Show of the week
Star Wars: Ahsoka
apparently haunted by a
tragedy in the island’s past. For the generation of Star Wars fans who grew
A 2023 release, Enys Men up on the animated series Rebels and The Clone
looks and feels like a 1973 Wars, Ahsoka Tano is a Jedi (or former Jedi) of
mindbender. Hulu Luke Skywalker–level importance. The veteran
warrior has already been played by Rosario
Zom 100: Bucket List Dawson, with requisite cool, in The Mandalorian,
of the Dead and this spin-off will make Dawson the first
In this playful new Japanese woman to topline a Star Wars series. Ahsoka,
comedy, a young corporate determined to find a friend by tracking down the
drone finally starts living blue-skinned villain Thrawn, teams with Rebels
Apple TV+, Disney+

his best life when a zombie characters Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, and the
epidemic threatens to end droid Chopper. Let the lightsaber battles begin.
life itself. Netflix Dawson and her lightsaber: The myth grows. Wednesday, Aug. 23, Disney+

THE WEEK August 25, 2023 • All listings are Eastern Time.
 LEISURE 27
Food & Drink
Peach and almond galette: A perfect stage for summer fruit
Whether you call them galettes or crostatas, Heat oven to 400, with a rack in middle.
free-form tarts like the one featured here Let dough soften slightly at room tempera-
are “the simplest and most beautiful way ture until it’s malleable enough to roll out.
to showcase summer fruit,” says Susan On a lightly floured piece of parchment
Spungen in Veg Forward: Super-Delicious paper about 18 inches long, roll dough out
Recipes That Put Produce at the Center of into a circle roughly 15 inches wide and 1∕ 8
Your Plate (Harper Celebrate). Galettes are to ¼ inch thick.
“a lot less fussy than pie,” and you can use
any fruit, such as apricots, apples, berries, or Lift parchment by opposite corners to
a combination, adjusting the sugar to taste. transfer dough to a large (12-inch) cast-iron
skillet or another ovenproof skillet, fitting
Recipe of the week parchment and dough into pan. Refrigerate
Peach and almond galette for about 15 minutes.
For the crust
2 cups all-purpose flour Meanwhile, make the filling: Cut peaches
Imagine it warm, with ice cream
¾ tsp kosher salt into 6 or 8 wedges each and toss with sugar.
1 tbsp granulated sugar sugar, and almonds in a food processor; Sprinkle flour on dough. Tumble in peaches
¼ cup sliced almonds pulse until combined. Add butter and pulse and fold edge of dough inward all around.
14 tbsp (1¾ sticks) ice-cold unsalted butter, until largest pieces are the size of walnut Refrigerate until firm, 15 to 30 minutes.
cut into ½-inch slices halves. Transfer to a wide bowl and squeeze
¼ cup ice water, plus more if needed butter pieces, flattening them between your Brush crust with cold water and sprinkle
fingers. Sprinkle ice water over flour mix- with almonds. Sprinkle sugar over the fruit
For the filling ture and mix in evenly, tossing with a fork. and crust. Dot filling with butter and bake
2 lbs (6 to 8) peaches, ripe but firm If there are a lot of loose, dry crumbs and 55 to 65 minutes, or until filling is furiously
½ cup granulated sugar dough won’t hold together, add more ice bubbling and crust is a deep golden brown.
¼ cup all-purpose flour water, 1 tbsp at a time.
Place skillet on a cooling rack or a cool
For baking Press dough together, gathering up any dry stove burner grate and let cool for at least
¼ cup sliced almonds bits until dough forms a shaggy, cohesive 30 minutes to allow juices to thicken.
2 tbsp granulated sugar mass. Transfer to a sheet of plastic wrap. Carefully pick up parchment by opposite
1 tsp unsalted butter Wrap and press into a flat, round disk. Chill corners, transfer to a serving plate, and slide
until firm, at least 1 hour and preferably 2, out paper (or don’t). Serve galette warm or
To make the crust, combine flour, salt, and as long as 2 days. at room temperature. Serves 8.

Texas barbecue: Best of the new breed Wine: The ‘avant-grüners’

“In Texas, a few towns are so closely associated A new day has arrived for “the original
with legendary barbecue joints that just uttering all-purpose party wine,” said Zachary
their names conjures up the smell of woodsmoke,” Sussman in Punch. Twenty years ago,
said Daniel Vaughn in Texas Monthly. The rise of grüner veltliners pioneered the one-
buzzworthy big-city joints over the past decade liter format for fun wines that yearn to
made me wonder if barbecue’s power balance had be shared with friends. Now that other
shifted. But after touring the entire state recently, wines have, some grüner producers
I’m happy to report that world-class barbecue has have gone “weird” in the best way,
become available in nearly every corner of Texas, creating natural-leaning wines that
as these worthy destinations help to prove. “strike the perfect balance between
Team Barbs B Q
Barbs B Q Lockhart This new joint, located in Texas’ drinkable and thinkable.”
barbecue capital and owned by three women who once worked together at Austin’s 2022 Familie Bauer Grüner Veltliner
Franklin Barbecue, has lived up to its major pre-opening hype. “The pork spareribs are
Susan Spungen, Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman/Imagn

Hollötrio ($18). This hazy macer-

a revelation,” the brisket is “already in contention for best in the state,” and Barbs is ated white is “wine’s answer to
“able to pull more flavor out of turkey than seems possible.” 102 E. Market St. the IPA,” with “punchy flavors of
Vargas BBQ Edinburg If Rio Grande Valley specialties such as beef-cheek barbacoa citrus, herbs, and pineapple.”
and brisket birria tacos aren’t enough, this booming local wonder has plenty more 2022 Weingut Diem D’Ora Orange
to offer, from breakfast on. Ram Vargas’ brisket and pork ribs “more than hold their Niederösterreich ($18). This
own,” while wife Nidia fills out the huge menu with award-winning charro beans, a “spritzy, ever-so-slightly tannic”
standout green spaghetti, a hearty brisket fideo, and much more. 701 E. Cano St. orange wine never fails at a sum-
Brantley Creek Barbecue Odessa Brandon and Ashley McPherson finally have a large mer party, even with hot dogs.
welcoming permanent home for the “superb” brisket and pork ribs that made their 2022 Früg Grüner Veltliner ($16).
food truck a worthy barbecue destination for the past four years. House-made sau- With this grüner, “the label pro-
sages are now on the menu, and “if you fell in love with the apple cobbler at the trailer, vides a pretty good sense of what
rediscover it here.” 3541 Faudree Road to expect: a party in a bottle.”

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

28 LEISURE Travel
This week’s dream: Sailing the Stockholm Archipelago
“I’d long thought of sailing as some- Swedish crispbread heaped with tiny
thing only other people did—wealthy Baltic shrimp and gobs of salty roe.
people, to be honest,” said Ingrid K.
Williams in The New York Times. When we landed on Tistronskär, “the
“But in Sweden, that’s not necessarily whole sweaty crew decided to take a
the case.” Thanks to allemansrätten, dip in the refreshingly chilly sea, wad-
the Swedish right to public access, ing through sea grass and slippery
everyone is free to moor at and roam stones to reach the cool, clear depths
any island—including the 24,000 that beyond.” Picnicking on the rocky sea-
compose the Stockholm Archipelago. shore proved challenging. I broke a
“For Swedes, the archipelago is a bottle of wine, and my friends’ 2-year-
quintessential summer destination.” old dropped a head of lettuce in the
Buses and ferries shuttle visitors water. “But afterward, sitting on the
to and from the largest, innermost smooth, sun-warmed cliff, we watched
islands. But if you charter a sailboat, a chestnut-colored mink dive into the
In Sweden, every island is yours to roam.
you’re free to explore, no matter who sea as an Arctic tern circled overhead.”
owns any particular island. “With so many on islets all their own. “The moment the On our return trip, Henke let me steer while
islands, so many things to do and see, the motor turned off, I was hooked. It was he unfurled a big, three-cornered spinnaker.
hard part is deciding.” just the wind in my face and the sparkling “When the wind caught the sail—what a
archipelago all around.” I felt fortunate to thrill!—it filled like a giant parachute flying
Earlier this summer, my friend Viola and her have such a skilled captain: “Henke was in through the archipelago.”
husband, Henke, invited me to set sail from constant motion, adjusting a pulley, letting The Archipelago Foundation (stockholm
their summer house. Heading toward the out a rope, tightening a sail, and consult- archipelago.se) provides access to cabin
archipelago’s outer fringes, we passed pine ing the sea chart.” As our nimble boat zig- rentals and sailboat operators. Charters start
forests, sloping cliffs, and cute red cottages zagged across a bay, Viola and I snacked on at about $145 a day.

Hotel of the week Getting the flavor of...

Snorkeling the Blue Ridge Mountains Sandboarding in the Red Desert
You don’t need a coral reef to go snorkeling, In southwestern Wyoming, there’s a big sand-
said Lindsey Liles in Garden & Gun. Fresh- box where everyone’s free to play, said Vanita
water snorkeling is trending, and while “it may Salisbury in Thrillist. About 35 miles north
look a touch absurd” to float face-down in a of Rock Springs, the Killpecker Dunes Open
shallow river, doing so opens your eyes to a hid- Play Area welcomes outdoor recreation with
den world of ancient life-forms. Recently, North an 11,000-acre expanse of sand that “would
Carolina introduced the Blue Ridge Snorkel be right at home in the deserts of Namibia or
Three building revivals in one Trail, a do-it-yourself series of 10 sites across Mongolia.” Thrill seekers take to the undulat-
several river basins. Signs depict which spe- ing dunes with dirt bikes, ATVs, skis, sleds, and
The Peninsula Istanbul
cies you might encounter. “It’s like a scavenger sandboards, which you can purchase at the visi-
Waterfront views in Istanbul tors’ center. The key to not falling on your face
hunt,” said biologist Luke Etchison, who took
“can’t get more iconic than
this,” said Anya von Bremzen me to the Mills River outside Asheville. At first, while descending a dune is to have a sandboard
in Afar. The Peninsula, a new the tug of the cold current slick with wax. Killpecker
luxury hotel created from had me grasping at river- is also a living, breathing
three historic maritime build- weeds. But soon enough, I A surge in ‘skiplagging’ ecosystem. Wild horses
ings, looks out across the was army-crawling above “Skiplagging is gaining traction, but and desert elk leave their
Bosphorus at Topkapi Palace, the “bustling world” of it’s also drawn the ire of airlines for tracks in the dunes, while
Hagia Sophia, and the Blue crayfish, mussels, and decades,” said Christopher Muther spadefoot toads and
Mosque. Like every hotel pebbles. Flashes of red in The Boston Globe. The travel hack, Jerusalem crickets burrow
in the Hong Kong–based also known as “hidden city ticketing,” deep below. Killpecker
and orange from saffron is the practice of booking a flight with
Peninsula chain, this 177-room
property feels “staunchly shiners and tangerine dart- the intention of using a layover city as ranks just behind the
boutique,” blending an East- ers drew my eye, as did your final destination. You want to get to Sahara as the world’s
West sensibility, personalized “the perfect camouflage Paris, say, but exploit a cheaper offer to second largest “active”
pampering, and “soothing of mottled sculpin.” The Lisbon by skipping the Paris to Lisbon dune field, a place
resort vibes.” The hotel “sits Cheoah River was my final leg. The trick “can save hundreds where winds sculpt the
smack in the energetic center favorite site, because it’s of dollars,” but it violates an agreement landscape. Those constant
of town,” and its 250-seat roof- isolated and the water is you accept when booking, and airlines winds sometimes cause the
top restaurant is a hot spot, warm. “It’s a pure delight can put violators on a no-fly list and ancient, glacier-deposited
but you can also just decom- cancel frequent-flier miles. “This is not sand to “sing,” or rever-
to crawl slowly up the a hack for the anxious traveler.” But if
press, sipping Turkish tea in
your room as boats pass by. river, noticing each tiny you’re an infrequent flier, who can risk
berate at certain frequen-
peninsula.com; doubles creature, and feeling as if upsetting an airline, “there are some cies. “Listen closely for a
from $824 you’ve joined the ranks of great deals to be found.” low-pitch noise, almost
Alamy

aquatic life.” like a booming cello.”

THE WEEK August 25, 2023
30 Best properties on the market
This week: Homes off the beaten track

1 Idaho County, Idaho Whitewater Ranch, a

historic 118-acre homestead, overlooks the Salmon
River in the Nez Perce–Clearwater National Forest.
The property includes a road system, runway, and
satellite internet; a two-bedroom main house with
a river-view porch; a two-bunkroom lodge with a
ranch-style kitchen and dining room; the original
1897 ranch house and barn; and multiple cabins.
The pristine wilderness has elk, deer, bighorn sheep,
wolves, mountain lions, and black bear, and the
river has steelhead, salmon, and trout. $3,500,000.
Trent Jones, Hall and Hall, (208) 622-4133

2 Malaga, Wash. Ravenwing Ranch, a gated community

on the Columbia River, is surrounded by 385 acres of
open space with trails. This three-bedroom house on a
1.64-acre lot features walls of windows with cliff and river
views, an eat-in chef’s kitchen,
a primary bedroom with five-
piece bath, a home office, a
covered patio, and a breeze-
way to a two-car garage.
Amenities include river access
and mooring buoys; golf, ski-
ing, and an airport are nearby.
$1,975,000. Chris Ohta, Engel
& Völkers Mercer Island,
(509) 470-1479

3 Warrenton, Mo. This four-bedroom log

home comes with 16.8 acres of Missouri
woodland. The house has a vaulted great room;
a dining area; a loft with balcony; a gourmet
kitchen with hickory cabinets, granite counters,
prep island, and coffee bar; a primary suite with
bubble tub, sitting room, and porch access;
and a family room with a log-trimmed wet bar.
Outside are a covered patio, fenced yard, firepit,
garage and carport, and private half-acre pond
and trails. $1,100,000. Cheri Norton, Coldwell
Banker Realty, (314) 368-5630
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 Best properties on the market 31
4 Gosnold, Mass. Cuttyhunk Island offers
180-degree views of Buzzard’s Bay, the Elizabeth
Islands, the Vineyard Sound, and Martha’s Vineyard.
Built in 1900, this updated, fully furnished year-
round island home features an owner’s suite with
designer bath, three upstairs bedrooms with balco-
nies, a galley kitchen with butler’s pantry, a living
room with window seat and built-ins, and a base-
ment wine cellar. Outside is a vast furnished deck
equipped with a firepit and hydraulic binoculars.
$2,250,000. Ellie Wickes, Mott & Chace/Sotheby’s
International Realty, (508) 493-4545

5 Canaan, N.Y. The Donnelly House, a pre-Revolutionary

two-bedroom saltbox, stands on a hilltop plateau with
panoramic views of the Berkshire Mountains. The circa-1760
home, on the National Register of Historic Places, has original
wood floors and ceiling beams, three fireplaces, an updated
kitchen and great room spanning the back of the house, a
dining room with built-ins, and a modern bath. The 24-acre
forested property is near Tanglewood, West Stockbridge, and
Catamount; Albany is 25 minutes’ drive. $950,000. Heather
Lindgren, Coldwell Banker Realty, (646) 932-4075
2 1
3

4
5

6 Willow, Alaska This three-bedroom

Steal of the week multilevel cabin sits on nearly an acre
of wooded land 45 minutes’ drive from
Wasilla. The remod-
eled 1991 home has
new electrical, plumb-
ing, heating, drywall,
doors, windows, and
trim, and features
custom log work,
including natural-log
exposed beams; wood
floors and staircase;
DMD Real Estate Photography

and a windowed full

kitchen with a dining nook opening to a
living room with a woodstove. The flat
lot is suitable for an additional building.
$300,000. Shawna Calt, Keller Williams
Realty, (907) 242-0211
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
32 BUSINESS
The news at a glance
The bottom line FTX: Sam Bankman-Fried heads to jail
QThe typical American Sam Bankman-Fried pushed Bankman-Fried’s behavior was
household spent $709 more all the wrong buttons, said Ava truly astonishing, said Alex
in July than it did two years Benny-Morrison in Bloomberg. Kirshner in Slate. Instead of rel-
ago to buy the same goods
and services, according to
The disgraced “crypto prince,” ishing his freedom while facing
Moody’s Analytics. awaiting trial on federal charges, a long list of charges for “one of
CNN.com had his bail revoked last week the most cartoonish and lucra-
QFor the first time since
“after Judge Lewis Kaplan found tive frauds in American history,”
2008, global wealth declined he likely attempted to tamper SBF engaged in a wide range
last year, falling by 2.4 per- with two witnesses.” Bankman- of asinine behaviors. He shared
cent in dollar terms. About Fried sent messages to former documents from his own Google
1.7 million U.S. adults are U.S. general counsel of his old Bankman-Fried leaving court Drive to smear his ex-girlfriend.
no longer millionaires. firm, FTX. He also “leaked diary notes” by He tried to use a virtual private network to mask
Another 17,260 dropped out Caroline Ellison, his former romantic partner, his internet activity. And he contacted several
of the ultra-high net worth in a seeming “attempt to discredit her.” Now he FTX employees in a manner so “chummy” that
category, meaning they are has lost the privilege of staying in his parents’ it smacked of an effort to butter them up before
no longer worth $100 million
or more.
3,000-square-foot Palo Alto, Calif., home and they testified. “That Bankman-Fried is going to
The Wall Street Journal was taken straight from court to the notorious jail now” for such “incredibly silly things” is fit-
Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. ting for “an unbelievably absurd saga.”

Inflation: Small increase in consumer prices No cage match for

Inflation ticked up slightly in July, breaking a 12-month streak of
billionaire bigwigs
declines, said Paul Davidson and Charisse Jones in USA Today. In the saga of two
“Consumer prices overall increased 3.2 percent from a year earlier, up billionaire brawlers,
it’s finally “time to
from 3 percent in June,” according to the consumer price index data move on,” said Alex
released last week. The numbers have dropped precipitously from Heath in The Verge.
where inflation sat a year ago, when it peaked at a 40-year high of That seems to be Mark
QAnnual sales for Cheerios 9.1 percent. But prices rose 0.2 percent from the month before, despite Zuckerberg’s final take
are over $435 million, yet another Federal Reserve interest-rate hike. “The cost of housing after the storyline of the
making it America’s best- again was the biggest driver” in the increase. Zuckerberg–Elon Musk
selling cereal, accounting for
cage match “reached a
roughly 1 in every 9 bowls of Culture wars: Target sales fall after Pride controversy new level of absurdity.”
cereal consumed. Target’s sales fell for the first time in six years after a Pride Month
Food Dive
After Musk asked for
backlash, said Nathaniel Meyersohn in CNN.com. The retailer a practice match at
QSpeculators bid up shares reported this week that its same-store sales dropped 5.4 percent in the Zuckerberg’s house,
of Vietnamese car maker past three months and foot traffic fell 4.8 percent. The slowdown fol- Meta boss Zuckerberg
VinFast in its U.S. stock lowed “a homophobic campaign that went viral on social media over said Tesla tycoon Musk
market review this week, “isn’t serious” about
briefly bringing the value of
Target’s annual Pride Month clothing collection,” which inspired vio-
lent threats against Target employees. Target’s decision to remove some stepping into the
the thinly traded company ring—an exchange that
to $85 billion, above the items then “frustrated supporters of gay and transgender rights.”
Musk then released
combined value of General
Motors and Ford. Housing: Berkshire Hathaway bets on builders to journalist and
Warren Buffett made an $800 million bet on the U.S. housing mar- biographer Walter
Bloomberg
ket, said Lance Lambert in Fortune. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Isaacson. Musk, for his
QThe Energy Department is part, continues to flog
awarding up to $1.2 billion this week purchased $700 million worth of shares in D.R. Horton
a bout in ever stranger
to two projects in Louisiana and another $100 million in shares of two other U.S. homebuilders.
ways, claiming that
and Texas to directly remove The spending spree comes amid “a remarkable surge in homebuilder he was planning to
carbon dioxide from the air. stocks” despite the sluggishness of the overall housing market this drive to Zuckerberg’s
The builders say they will spring. One reason is that homebuilders have employed new strategies Palo Alto, Calif. home
remove a total of 2 million to attract buyers, such as price reductions and mortgage-rate buy- and fight him if he
tons of carbon annually, the downs. The scarcity of existing inventory has also boosted demand. answered the door.
equivalent of emissions from
Musk took other pokes
445,000 gas-powered cars. Epilogue: UBS pays to settle last 2008 crisis charges at his rival, slowing
Associated Press After 15 years, UBS has finally settled the last remaining charges stem- links on X (the former
QA basket of the top U.S. ming from the financial crisis, said Margot Patrick and Dean Seal Twitter) to Facebook
streaming services will cost in The Wall Street Journal. The Swiss bank said this week it “will and Instagram; links to
$87 a month this autumn, pay $1.44 billion to settle U.S. Justice Department allegations that it news sites Musk seems
compared with $73 a year defrauded investors who bought bonds backed by mortgages” before to dislike, including
ago. The average cable TV The New York Times,
package costs $83.
the housing market collapsed in 2008. The case wasn’t brought until
2018, “after many of the cases against other banks were settled.” All were also slowed for a
Getty (2)

Financial Times short time.

told, the DOJ collected $36 billion in fines from banks.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 Making money BUSINESS 33

Aging: The math on the $1.8 million retirement plan

The money Americans think they’ll need thanks to investment gains. She frequently
to retire comfortably keeps growing and entertains guests at “a beach house she
growing, said Medora Lee in USA Today. named Camp Cocktail in Ocean City,
A recent survey by Charles Schwab found N.J.” Bob Bradley retired at age 66 with
that, on average, the figure that people $1 million in 2015. He supplements his
feel they need to have saved to retire is savings with $40,000 a year in consulting
$1.8 million, up from $1.7 million only income, and he and his wife have “main-
a year ago. Their math makes sense as a tained their pre-retirement lifestyle.”
conservative “rough estimate.” The aver-
age life expectancy is 83.3 years old, so Most Americans still need to get saving,
if you retire at 65 “you could expect to said Lorie Konish in CNBC.com. “The
spend at least 18.3 years in retirement.” To median retirement account balance
maintain an income of $100,000 a year, for high-income households was nine
the $1.8 million figure is just about right, if times that of middle-income households
your nest egg grows at the rate of inflation. What’s realistic for a comfortable retirement? in 2019—$605,000 compared with
Unfortunately, few Americans are close. In March, Schwab re- $64,300, respectively,” according to new research from the
ported that its average retirement account balance was $280,099. Government Accountability Office. Even worse, it found that
median savings for middle-income households ($86,800 in 2007)
That $1.8 million is yet another retirement number causing un- has actually shrunk over the past 16 years.
necessary panic, said Brett Arends in MarketWatch. “A $1.8 mil-
lion balance would buy a 65-year-old couple an immediate an- Barring a miraculous rise in wages, the gap isn’t going to fix
nuity paying a guaranteed lifetime income of $9,500 a month.” itself, said Nir Kaissar in Bloomberg. The federal government
Add Social Security and that’s $146,000 a year. That’s far more can do something easily that would benefit everyone’s retire-
than most seniors spend in retirement. Many people who retire ment: At an annual cost of about $37 billion, the U.S. could give
on $1 million to $2 million a year spend down much less than babies $10,000 at birth. Think about it. “If individuals were to
that, said Veronica Dagher and Anne Tergesen in The Wall Street invest $10,000 in stocks at birth,” by age 70 (assuming a reason-
Journal. Judy Hall, a onetime human resources executive, retired able growth rate of 10 percent a year before inflation) they’d
with $2 million in 2005. Now, 18 years later, she spends roughly have $10 million. Which happens to be the equivalent of that
$110,000 a year, and as of late last year still had $1.8 million, $1.8 million retirement number in today’s dollars.

What the experts say Charity of the week

Sky-high prices for luxury rooms that short since 2006.” About one-third
Last week, the deadliest U.S. wildfire
Hotel prices are rising to unprecedented switched employers within two years. Gen Z’s in more than century razed the entire
heights, especially for five-star stays, said apparent willingness to load up entry points community of Lahaina in Maui, Hawaii.
Nikki Ekstein in Bloomberg. Prices at brands on the résumé “may be a response to what In response, the Hawai’i Community
like Holiday Inn and Best Western have risen younger employees perceive as corporations’ Foundation,
a century-old
19 percent in the U.S. and 32 percent in unyielding focus on the bottom line.” But re- nonprofit,
Europe since 2019. But luxury travel advisers cruiters say many employers still regard itiner- established
say their clients “are ponying up $1,700 per ant candidates with suspicion. In a survey of the Maui
night on average” for their opulent accom- hiring managers by Robert Half, “77 percent Strong Fund
(hawaiicom-
modations this summer. That’s a 69 percent named job hopping” as their “top concern munityfoun-
increase from the $979 a night that a similar when evaluating a candidate’s resume.” dation.org/
survey showed travelers were spending in maui-strong) to collect and distribute
2019. Data from a broader range of luxury S&P drops ESG scores in bond ratings donations that will help provide shelter,
food, and financial support for Maui
hotels confirmed the uptick, with one bro- S&P Global said last week it will stop hand- residents. The fund is collaborating
ker reporting the average rate for a night ing out scores to corporate borrowers based with state and local elected officials,
in Europe is up 57 percent from 2019. One on ESG criteria, said Patrick Temple-West in and 100 percent of contributions—
travel adviser said “pent-up demand” from the Financial Times. “The debt rating agency now at over $27 million—go to Maui
relief efforts. The Hawai’i Community
the pandemic has become “the travel indus- has since 2021 published scores from 1 to 5 Foundation is one of numerous organiza-
try’s mantra.” His clients splurged to the tune for a company’s exposure to each element of tions mobilizing to help wildfire victims.
of $3,682 per night for their stays last year. environmental, social, and governance risks.” The Maui Mutual Aid Fund also accepts
Visa, for example, had received a 3 for its donations and deploys volunteers to
Gen Z’s wandering ways governance performance and 2s for its work support victims.

Should young workers be more worried in the other departments. “The move comes
Each charity we feature has earned a
about how often they switch jobs? asked amid skepticism over ESG ratings” and pres- four-star overall rating from Charity
Eilene Zimmerman in The New York Times. sure from conservatives over the use of ESG Navigator, which rates not-for-profit
According to the Employee Benefit Research as an investment criterion. S&P’s debt ratings organizations on the strength of their
Institute, “22.3 percent of workers ages 20 are used by bond buyers, and any negative finances, their governance practices,
and the transparency of their operations.
and older spent a year or less at their jobs in marks can have a major effect on a company’s Four stars is the group’s highest rating.
Getty

2022, the highest percentage with a tenure borrowing costs.

THE WEEK August 25, 2023
34 Best columns: Business

China: A slowdown sends tremors worldwide

The world’s economic engine is sputter- up debts to finance state-directed infra-
ing, said The Economist. When China structure overhauls are now threatening
abandoned its draconian zero-Covid con- default. They could sell off pieces to pri-
trols last year, the expectation was that vate companies, but Chinese President
it “would stage a rapid recovery, even Xi Jinping “objects to entrepreneurs get-
as other countries courted recession.” In ting their hands on ‘state assets.’”
fact, China’s economic growth has been
slowing, and the troubles keep mount- China’s pain is the U.S.’s gain, said
ing. “Three headlines in the space of two Daniel Moss in Bloomberg. Without
days” last week captured the gravity of the usual lift from China, “who will
China’s economic plight. Exports fell by the world rely on?” The United States.
more than 14 percent from the year be- “Derided as being in its sunset years,”
China’s consumers have shut their wallets.
fore. Country Garden, one of the nation’s the U.S. is seeing a “resilient” labor
biggest property developers, missed two bond-interest payments. market, “buoyant” consumers, and diminishing odds of a reces-
And consumer prices declined. “In sum: China’s export boom sion. There’s a great opportunity here for Washington, said Adam
is long over. Its property slump is not. And, therefore, deflation S. Posen in Foreign Affairs. “Instead of trying to contain China’s
beckons.” China’s central bank cut interest rates further this growth at great cost to their own economy,” through tariffs and
week, in a sign of heightened concern from policymakers. technology bans, “American leaders can let Xi do their work for
them.” The U.S. can easily “position itself as a better alternative—
This isn’t like the China we’ve come to know, said Peter S. Good- a welcoming destination for Chinese assets of all kinds.”
man in The New York Times. “Over the past decade, China has
been the source of more than 40 percent of global economic In a visit to Beijing this spring, I didn’t detect an economic mal-
growth,” almost double the U.S. contribution. But in a sign of aise, said Steven Rattner in The New York Times. Yes, “China’s
“general erosion of public faith,” Chinese families have stopped rebound from Covid has been weaker than many expected,” but
spending and are stashing cash at a record pace. Weakening I saw executives “mostly radiating optimism” about their busi-
Chinese demand carries global implications—“from soybeans nesses. “A robust pipeline” of startups suggests China is continu-
harvested in Brazil to beef raised in the United States to luxury ing to innovate. China’s economic growth may be slowing, but
goods made in Italy.” Beijing needs to get its act together, said the it’s still greater than ours. The country does have a significant
Financial Times in an editorial. The “psychological malaise that youth-unemployment problem, but “much of that stems from
besets many Chinese households” requires bolder reform and an economy that hasn’t quite revved up enough” for the close to
stimulus. Cutting mortgage rates and loosening housing restric- 12 million people graduating college this year. That can change.
tions “would be a good start.” But local governments that racked So dismiss China at your own peril.

A summer Women own this summer’s hot entertainment

economy, said Sarah Krouse and Anne Steele. Taylor
mists are calling a “women’s multiplier effect.” Some
men go to events in groups, “but this summer, it was
ruled by Swift’s summer tour has been so hot that the Federal
Reserve in July touted it “for boosting the Phila-
women who gathered the biggest groups of movie
and concertgoers and opened their wallets repeatedly
women delphia area’s hotel industry.” Swift and Beyoncé
together have accounted for 66 percent of ticket
on those experiences to an unusual degree.” More
than 80 percent of people who went to see Swift
Sarah Krouse and revenue for the top 10 touring acts worldwide. or Beyoncé bought more than two tickets, and the
Anne Steele Women propelled watershed success for the Barbie shows have been “at once girlfriend raves, rallies, and
The Wall Street Journal film, which crossed $1 billion in box-office returns. retreats.” These groups of women are spending more
What’s notable is that these events “drew crowds to support other female acts, too. The average ticket
compelled by a common theme: art made by women price for a top-50 female artist is $660, compared
that speaks to the experience of being female.” This with $245 for male artists. It’s time to stop underesti-
empowerment motif has carried what some econo- mating women as an economic force.

Wall Street’s “The most talked-about story on Wall Street” these

days is just how badly Goldman Sachs CEO David
away with hefty employment settlements. Solomon
was caught flying private jets for Caribbean vaca-
most hated Solomon is disliked, said Jen Wieczner. Usually, “the
only real non-negotiable” for running Goldman “is
tions “even as he was reprimanding workers for not
logging more hours in the office.” And the divorced
boss that you be skilled at making money.” But Solomon
has pushed that principle to the limit. Though he
Solomon’s bragging about his sexual conquests hasn’t
helped. “Goldman’s official view is that his tempera-
Jen Wieczner began his CEO tenure “with outward signs that he ment is irrelevant as long as the bank is performing
New York magazine might rule as a ‘kinder’ and maybe even ‘woker’ well.” But Solomon mismanaged a push into con-
boss” (he DJs in his spare time and relaxed the dress sumer banking that has lost $3 billion and counting
code), Solomon’s “rougher qualities” eventually won since 2020. The most recent quarter saw year-over-
out. “He always sounds like he’s shouting—always,” year profits fall more than 60 percent. It’s enough to
is a typical assessment. Senior women left Goldman make some Goldman veterans openly long for the
Getty

“at a clip that was hard to ignore,” some walking post–financial crisis vampire-squid days.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
 Obituaries 35

The guitarist who wrote the Band’s classic hits The artist who
twice reimagined
Robbie As a songwriter, Robbie graduation,” joining rockabilly
modern painting
Robertson Robertson thought big. singer Ronnie Hawkins’ band
1952–2023 The lead guitarist and as lead guitarist at 16. There he Brice Marden had an unshak-
principal writer for the met all four of the other future able faith in the power of
Band crafted cinematic songs steeped Band members. They “formed paint. One of his generation’s
in a mythic, Southern Americana that a tight musical bond,” eventu- most celebrated artists, he
reflected a Canadian’s fascination with ally striking out on their own electrified the art world in
the 1960s
his adopted home. “The Night They as Levon and the Hawks, and
Brice by fusing
Drove Old Dixie Down,” sung by in 1965 backing Bob Dylan on Marden minimalism
Arkansan drummer Levon Helm, gave his first electric tour. In 1967, 1938–2023 with abstract
voice to a defeated Confederate Civil they moved into a house near expressionist
War soldier. “The Weight” spun an enigmatic tale Woodstock, N.Y., that they dubbed Big Pink flourishes in a series of color
of a wayward traveler’s encounters with Crazy and began working on the songs for their debut. blocks that, on closer inspec-
Chester and Miss Moses; the narrator in “Up Big Pink “sent shock waves through the industry,” tion, revealed texture and
on Cripple Creek” celebrates a Louisiana lover said The Washington Post. The follow-up, 1969’s depth. Decades later he revo-
who’s “a drunkard’s dream.” Such classics helped The Band, was another classic, but soon “infight- lutionized painting a second
time with his 1989–91 Cold
make the Band one of the most influential groups ing and drug use” among the bandmates began to
Mountain series, in which
of the rock era. Steeped in folk, country, and interfere with recording. dancing lines took inspiration
blues, their homespun 1968 debut Music From from the graceful loops of
The Band gave a farewell concert in 1976, filmed
Big Pink was a lodestar for generations of roots Chinese calligraphy. “People
by Martin Scorsese for the acclaimed movie
musicians, landing in the tie-dyed psychedelic era were saying painting was
The Last Waltz. The other members “would
like a sepia-toned daguerreotype. “I wanted to dead,” he said in 2009. “This
reunite many times” in later years, but without was my way of thinking,
write music that felt like it could’ve been written
Robertson, said NPR. He had a decades-long col- well, there are things that
50 years ago, tomorrow, yesterday,” Robertson
laboration with Scorsese, composing and super- haven’t been done.”
said in 1995, “that had this lost-in-time quality.”
vising music for many films, and he released five
Born in Toronto to a Native American mother solo albums. But he never returned to performing. Growing up in the suburbs
of New York City, said The
and a Jewish gambler father who died before he “It’s a wonderful way to make a living—going New York Times, Marsden
was born, Robertson took to the guitar early, said out and people cheering for you,” he said in 2020. had an interest in art encour-
Rolling Stone. He left high school “long before “But I don’t know, I just have a different hunger.” aged by “a kindly neighbor.”
After earning a master’s
degree in painting from
The therapist who started a hunt for the G-spot Yale in 1963, he moved to
New York and worked as an
For Alice Ladas, the she met Eleanor Roosevelt assistant to painter Robert
Alice Rauschenberg. By 1966,
Ladas spot itself was never and was “inspired by the first
he'd had his first solo show,
1921–2023 really the point. The lady’s feminism and activism”
and critics had proclaimed
psychologist who co- to march for civil rights, said him a young star. “Marden
authored the 1982 best-seller The G The New York Times. After maintained this exalted sta-
Spot: And Other Recent Discoveries graduation, she worked for tus throughout his career,”
About Human Sexuality wanted to Austrian psychologist Wilhelm but by 1980, he faced what
revolutionize women’s relationship to Reich, who focused on psycho- he called a “silent creative
their pleasure. Popularizing the newly sexual theories about the death” and started traveling
discovered G-spot—supposedly a orgasm, and she became one through Asia. The trip proved
patch of erectile tissue behind a wom- of the first people to teach the rejuvenating, yielding grand
works that earned him a spot
an’s pubic bone that can elicit a response similar Lamaze childbirth method in the U.S. Her disser-
in the 1997 Venice Biennale.
to an orgasm—was one way to accomplish that. tation for her doctorate in education, awarded by
Her collaborators, two sex researchers, tested the Columbia University in 1970, focused on support They also became “some
theory that this spot existed by examining around for breastfeeding. of the most sought-after
400 women, all of whom eventually located their in the auction market,”
The G-spot “remained a topic of contention” long said Artforum. The diptych
G-spots. The book sold over 1 million copies but
after Ladas’ book came out, said The Washington Complements (2007) alone
faced intense backlash from doctors, who said
Post. As recently as 2021, a medical review of fetched nearly $31 million. A
the research was not a scientific study. Ladas year after being diagnosed
31 studies called it “unproved,” saying there was
shrugged off the criticism. “This whole business of with cancer in 2017, Marden
agreement that the spot existed but disagreement
‘You have to find the G-spot’ is silly,” she said in unveiled his most monu-
on its location. Ladas, meanwhile, went on to have
2010. “Being able to communicate, to enjoy your mental work, the five-panel,
a long career as a therapist and “was still seeing
body—that’s important.” 39-foot-long tableau Moss
patients at her home office the day before she Sutra With the Seasons. But
Ladas was born in Manhattan to a father who died” at 102, said The Seattle Times. Her devotion “I’m not thinking of these
was a cotton merchant and a mother who sup- to exploring the connection between mind and paintings as a kind of sum-
ported the ethical humanism movement. In the body never dissipated. “I work with words, and mation,” he said in 2019. “I’d
1940s, she earned her undergraduate and mas- I work with the body,” she said. “I was always rather they lead to some-
ter’s degrees at Smith, a women’s college, study- interested in women being able to own their own thing else.”
Getty

ing political science and then social work. There bodies and use their bodies the way they wanted.”
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
36 The last word
Chased by a wall of fire
2QHRIWKHGHDGOLHVWZLOG¿UHVLQ86KLVWRU\HQJXOIHG0DXL¶V/DKDLQDZLWKDOPRVWQRZDUQLQJ
said Joshua Partlow in The Washington Post. 5HsidHnWs ZKR sXUYiYHd EaUHO\ HsFaSHd WKH inIHUnR

L
ISA VORPAHL, a bank teller, some emergency planners had
woke to the sound of long warned about. The couple
someone shuffling on her scrambled to gather their dogs and
lanai. It was 3 a.m. on Tuesday cats. One rescue dog, Poppy, got left
when she looked out her bed- behind in the chaos. Stefl hit the gas
room window—along a dry, in his truck as flames licked at the
grassy slope overlooking her side of the house. “I was praying to
slice of tropical paradise—and God that we didn’t die,” he said.
realized it was just the wind.
Not far away, on Komo Mai Street,
Alexa Caskey couldn’t sleep, AnnaStaceya Arcangel Pang saw
either. On the farm where she the distant fire marching closer.
grew taro and breadfruit for The Lahaina native and fam-
her plant-based restaurant, she ily members—her grandmother,
listened to gusts that would her mother, various cousins—live
dislodge her garage door and within blocks of one another, and
topple the Hong Kong orchid all had decided to leave.
tree outside.
Flames swallow Lahaina’s historic Waiola Church. Pang, 31, texted her husband, who
Photographer Rachael had left early that day to work in
Zimmerman woke up before dawn in her They spent a few hours at their daughter’s another town, to see what he wanted her to
condo on Front Street, Lahaina’s seaside apartment but returned home after Maui pack for him. He replied eight minutes later,
boulevard of restaurants and surf shops, to County—at 9:55 a.m.—sent out an alert that but by then, her backyard was in flames,
the howls rattling her window screens. the brush fire was “100 percent contained.” and she hastily fled alongside a caravan
If there was any warning that fitful night It looked that way to Eddy. “Nothing was of relatives. As she drove away with her
that Hawaii was about to endure one of the happening. A couple fire engines were there. dogs and a few clothes she had grabbed
most horrific and deadly natural disasters They were all packing stuff up,” he said. “It she could hear the sound of propane tanks
in the state’s history, it was only the wind. looked 100 percent fine.” exploding up and down the street, one after
another.

L
For two days, National Weather Service AHAINA SITS ON Maui’s western flank,
employees in Honolulu had been sending a historic town rimmed by white-sand “When I looked back, all I saw was black
out ominous alerts about powerful easterly beaches at the foot of the ancient smoke,” she said. “It was then that I knew:
gusts, whipped up by Hurricane Dora pass- Pu’u Kukui volcano. On most days, it’s a If we come back, we are coming back to
ing 500 miles to the south. They hit Maui at postcard-perfect symbol of tropical bliss. nothing.”
a time when much of the tropical island had But an early-morning blaze was ominous.

B
been parched by severe drought, including And Mark Stefl, a tile setter, had reason to Y THIS TIME, that same black cloud
the drier leeward side that includes Lahaina. be wary. was starting to smother Lahaina. The
town of 12,000 had been the capital
The next time Vorpahl woke up, she He lived down the hill on Lahainaluna Road of the former Hawaiian Kingdom and a
smelled smoke. The power was out. A fire in a home he rebuilt after another wildfire trade hub for 19th-century whaling ships.
had started in the dry grass near her home burned it down five years ago. He had heard Lahaina had the oldest house in Maui, the
on Lahainaluna Road, on a slope just east that the early-morning blaze had been extin- Baldwin Home Museum, and a treasured
of the highway that bypasses downtown. guished. Around 2:30 p.m., he heard his banyan tree that has grown in a courtyard
Power poles fell in the neighborhood, and wife, Michele, shout: “Oh, my God.” by the sea for 150 years. These days, tour-
wires had snapped—leading several neigh- ists come to surf or snorkel, sunbathe and
bors to later question whether electrical The blaze had kicked up again farther
zip-line.
equipment had started the blaze. down the hillside. Wind dragged the flames
toward Lahaina. It was still a few hundred Caresse Carson, 41, catered to those visitors
Maui County authorities got the first yards away. Mark tried to reassure Michele at her job at Captain Jack’s Island Grill. She
reports of the fire by 6:37 a.m., and not that firefighters would handle it. But the had spent nearly two decades in Lahaina
long afterward, police were circulating in speed of its approach was like nothing and valued its rich history. Mark Twain had
her neighborhood, calling out on mega- he had seen. “Within minutes, there was visited the Pioneer Inn—across the street
phones for people to evacuate. Using a a wall of fire 30 yards from the house,” from Captain Jack’s. She liked to imagine
nearby hydrant, firefighters doused the he said. herself tracing his long-ago footsteps.
flames.
Overhead, dry air—the result of a high- Even though the power was out, Carson
She didn’t feel panicked. Fires were a regu- pressure system—was jetting over and had reported to work that afternoon to help
lar occurrence. The blaze was small and down the slopes of the volcano, sending keep food from spoiling. On the drive in,
didn’t appear threatening as she and her ferocious winds into his town, spraying she passed the home of her boss, Sam, and
husband, Eddy, drove past. “It’s Hawaii,” gravel and ripping shingles off the roof- watched a chunk of his roof as big as her
she said. “Nobody thought anything of it.” tops. It was a worst-case scenario that truck get ripped off by the wind. As she and
AP

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

 The last word 37

Sam hauled bags of ice, black smoke started It was 4:30 p.m. He told her it was the sun. ment. He saw the fire consume a three-story
billowing through town. apartment building on Keawe Street. He

T
HERE WAS NO emergency siren. No narrated the conflagration as he traveled.
It came on in an instant. “All of a sudden, organized evacuation. Few instruc- When sparks landed at the base of a palm
it was starting to barrel over the building,” tions about how to proceed. Just a tree and blossomed into flame, he said:
Carson said. “It was completely black. You headlong grasp toward survival. “This is how it starts. One little spark flies
couldn’t see an inch in front of you. This to an area, and the next thing you know, it
was broiling smoke.” Annelise Cochran, a 30-year-old who
worked for an ocean conservation non- goes up, just like that.”
Zimmerman, the photographer, was also profit, couldn’t get out by car, and the Sometime after midnight, a man staggered
downtown. She grabbed a small safe with building next to her was on fire. So she out from the burning homes, toward a Shell
her hard drives, passport, and some cash. ran to the water. She saw her neighbor, gas station. His shorts were smoldering.
Plus her computer, some food for her dog, Freeman, 86, struggling to walk. Another Skin was peeling from his face. He collapsed
Zya, and a handful of shirts. At 3:38 p.m., neighbor, Edna, was with him. Together, the on the pavement.
already fearing the worst, she snapped a few three climbed over the rocky barrier to get
hasty photos of their rooms, their closets, away from the flames. Foley encouraged the man to stand and led
their furniture—think- him toward Safeway. Foley rode around
They spent hours in the water looking for help until he found a police offi-
ing she might need the
and on the rocks, Cochran said, cer. Maui police and firefighters had been
pictures for insurance
trying to stay away from flying out throughout the day trying to save lives
claims. She called her
embers and choking smoke. and help people evacuate. But the fire was
parents in Colorado a
Cars abandoned on Front overwhelming.
half-hour later, saying
Street began to explode. Waves
she and her partner, “The cop couldn’t do anything for him,”
of heat and toxic fumes washed
Nicole, were stuck in Foley recalled. “He just gave him water.”
over the sea. At times, they had
traffic as the fire bore
to move toward the fire when
down, and she didn’t Foley and some other people entered the
they began to feel dangerously
know whether they Lahaina Cannery Mall—connected to the
cold. Cochran watched in hor-
would make it out. supermarket—to try to escape the smoke
ror as people held onto debris
They encouraged her to and wait out the night. Every so often,
and floated away from shore.
stick close to the ocean, he would go outside to see whether the
“People still chose just to drift
and to just keep going. Safeway had started to burn.
out,” she said.
Carson was also trying In the dark, cold water off Lahaina on
By that time, Kevin Foley, 42,
to drive out of Lahaina Tuesday night, Cochran and her neighbor
was stranded in a Safeway
in her Nissan pickup. Edna clutched each other, both women shiv-
The sea was the only exit for some. parking lot, flames encroaching
Glowing embers show- ering and struggling to breathe through the
ered into her open window, perforating the smoke and fumes. Cochran felt
blanket in the back seat. There was gridlock like she was losing consciousness.
downtown as panicked people tried to
The women tried to stay awake.
escape and others abandoned their vehicles.
They talked about their families
Carson watched a couple running barefoot
and promised each other they’d
through the street pushing a stroller. She
make it. At one point, Cochran
watched person after person run down
called out to Freeman, her elderly
the side streets until they got to the sea
neighbor, who was a little farther
wall and then threw themselves into the
down the rocky beach, and asked
Pacific Ocean.
how he was. He smiled and made
Carson recorded video on her phone as a shaka gesture with his hand—
she drove, searching for a way out. Power hang loose—to indicate he was all
lines and palm trees whipped around wildly. right. Later, she saw him slumped
She came to a road that was blocked by a against the wall, unmoving. She
downed utility pole. “I don’t know if I’m believes he might have died from
going to make it,” she recorded herself say- the smoke.
Cochran goes through her surviving belongings.
ing. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. Sometime around midnight, fire-
Look at that. That’s all burnt debris. The on multiple sides. He had been heading to fighters rescued Cochran and several dozen
fire’s getting closer and closer.” his bartending shift at Longhi’s Kaanapali, other people from the water. She has spent
Reuters, tephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle/Polaris

It was 4:25 p.m. when she saw her friend, an Italian restaurant in Marriott’s Maui the past few nights at shelters. Her body is
Kaleo, get hit in the head by a piece of Ocean Club, when the smoke forced him covered with bruises and lacerations; her
debris. “Get in the car,” she screamed to off the bus. He walked back to where he feet and face are burned. “I feel blessed to
him. “Get in my car.” had left his bike. be alive,” she said.
Worried about his roommates, Foley tried
He was panting. “Oh, my God,” she said.
to ride home but kept getting blocked. As This story originally appeared in The
The air was black. Carson was disoriented. he moved, he recorded fires all around him. Washington Post, and was reported by
A light emerged in the sky. “Look at the When darkness fell, the sky turned a menac- Joshua Partlow, John Farrell, Brady Dennis,
moon,” she told him. “Look at the f---ing ing orange. He watched flaming utility poles Brianna Sacks, and Joanna Slater. Used
moon, dude.” spraying showers of embers onto the pave- with permission.
THE WEEK August 25, 2023
38 The Puzzle Page
Crossword No. 709: Only the Names Changed by Matt Gaffney The Week Contest
This week’s question: A Colorado driving school
employee accidentally slammed his car into the school’s
front window, leaving the wreckage lodged under a sign
that says “Learn to Drive.” In seven or fewer words, come
up with a caption for a photo of this accident scene.
Last week’s contest: A TikTok “life coach” is recom-
mending fellow 20-somethings find “Lazy Girl Jobs”:
low-stress, white-collar positions that allow them to work
remotely and focus on their non-work lives. Come up
with a job title for a uniquely low-effort role.
THE WINNER: “Navel Observation Specialist”
Jon Braunersreuther, Tomball, Texas
SECOND PLACE: “Every Other Day Trader”
Bill Levine, Belmont, Mass.
THIRD PLACE: “C.O.O.O.O.: Chief Out of Office Officer”
Lark Pinney, Minneapolis
For runners-up and complete contest rules, please go
to theweek.com/contest.
How to enter: Submissions should be emailed to
contest@theweek.com. Please include your name,
address, and daytime telephone number for verifica-
tion; this week, please type
“Crash caption” in the sub-
ject line. Entries are due by
noon, Eastern Time, Tuesday,
Aug. 22. Winners will appear
on the Puzzle Page next issue
and at theweek.com/puzzles on
Friday, Aug. 25. In the case of
ACROSS 47 Hawkins of dance fame 9 Jeans possessive
1 To win sandwiches 50 ___ Moines Register 10 Sight to see identical or similar entries, the
for life, almost 10,000 (newspaper) 11 Landlocked African land first one received gets credit.
people have offered to 51 “Johnny B. ___” 12 Pleasing vocal feature
adopt this chain’s name 52 Leaky tire sound 13 Expression of disgust WThe winner gets a one-year
as their legal first name; 54 Long or Vardalos 19 Conditional statement subscription to The Week.
a winner will be picked 56 Mr. Flanders 21 Followed right-of-way
later this month 57 A British marijuana laws
7 Pack animal advocate legally 22 Many French vowels Sudoku
11 Org. for the Yanks changed his name 23 Muse of astronomy
14 Seoul-based airline to this in 1994 to 24 Like some car windows
Fill in all the
15 Do as instructed promote his legalization 28 Pickup hour, briefly boxes so that
16 Feel unwell campaign 29 ___ fly (run scorer) each row, column,
17 Muscle that stretches 63 Final defeat 31 Neighbor of Algeria and outlined
18 Morning notes 64 JetBlue rival 33 CEO’s need square includes
20 A sheriff candidate in 68 “Can ___ now?” 34 Make difficult to read all the numbers
Wisconsin changed his 69 Yemen neighbor 35 High as a kite from 1 through 9.
name to this famous 70 To a greater degree 37 The prez, in shorthand
TV actor’s for a 2007 71 Pale and weak-looking 38 Part of SDSU Difficulty:
election; after losing, he 72 Baby’s cries 42 Implore hard
was sued by the actor 73 This musician 43 Affirmative statement
22 Acorn or macadamia changed his name to 46 John and Sean, for two
25 “Chandelier” singer an unpronounceable 48 “Got it”
26 Doubtful, casually symbol in 1993; it was 49 Third-party
27 First zodiac sign both a creative lark arrangement
30 Ending for persist and an unsuccessful 53 Hayek in Frida
32 Finds adorable attempt to escape 55 Hit ___ in the road
36 A New Yorker legally contract obligations 57 “Just so you know,”
changed his name briefly
Find the solutions to all The Week’s puzzles online: www.theweek.com/puzzle.
to this in 2012, after DOWN 58 Indian song
playing the role each 1 Occupied an ottoman, 59 James Bond’s alma
December for years say mater
©2023. All rights reserved.
39 Stat for cornerbacks 2 Manipulate 60 He parked an ark
The Week (ISSN 1533-8304) is published weekly, except January 6, January 13,
40 Upset stomach help 3 Container with 61 “Are you ___ out?” July 14, and September 15. The Week is published by Future US LLC, 130 West
41 Wheat Thins maker recyclables 62 iPhone feature 42nd Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10036. Periodicals postage paid at New York,
44 Tall tale 4 “That ___ close one!” 65 Perfect score, NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to
The Week, PO Box 37252, Boone, IA 50037-0252. One-year subscription rates:
45 A 30-year-old U.K. man 5 Unsigned, briefly sometimes U.S. $199; Canada $229; all other countries $269 in prepaid U.S. funds. Publications
got drunk in 2020 and 6 Field goal 66 Upper-left laptop key mail agreement No. 40031590, Registration No. 140467846. Return undeliverable
67 Forest female Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill,
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H M R S

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watching her on TV maybe

THE WEEK August 25, 2023

9000 9001