The Week USA - 09.10.2026 — 2026-10-04

---

TALKING POINTS

Why Trump is embracing China's leader

Pages 14 and 16

Xi Jinping

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Mice with human brain cells

p.21

INTERNATIONAL

A diva's

triumphant

comeback

p.15

Céline

Dion

THE WEEK

THE BEST OF THE U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

---

Getting religion

Talarico and the rise of the new Christian Democrats

p.17

---

Don't wait for someday to share your story

"I wanted them to know the stories behind our family, so they could better understand who they are."

Robert Jameson

Even our most treasured memories can fade with time

The people, places, and moments that shaped your life deserve to be remembered in your own voice. Through a series of personal conversations, your dedicated ghostwriter captures your stories and memories and crafts them into a beautifully written hand-bound book for your family to treasure for generations. A remarkable experience. A lasting legacy.

Capture your life story in a book today

Call us at 1-844-793-6062

or visit lifebookmemoirs.com

Smoothing a red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews (pages 14 and 16)

---

THE WEEK

Editor-in-chief: Theunis Bates (theweekeditors@futurenet.com)

Editor-at-large: William Falk

Executive editor: Susan Caskie

Managing editor: Jay Wilkins

Deputy editor/Arts: Chris Mitchell

Deputy editor/Business: Zach Schonbrun

Deputy editor/News: Chris Erikson

Senior editors: Isaac Guzmán, Harold Maass, Scott Meslow, Brit Morse, Rebecca Nathanson, Tim O'Donnell, Matt Prigge, Hallie Stiller

Art director: Paul Crawford

Deputy art director: Rosanna Bulian

Photo editor: Mark Rykoff

Copy editor: Rob Horning

Research editors: Allan Kew, Karen Ng

Contributing editors: Ryan Devlin, Bruno Maddox

Senior vice president: Joel Griffiths

Account director: Mary Gallagher (mary.gallagher@futurenet.com)

Media planning manager: Andrea Crino

Direct response advertising:

Anthony Smyth (anthony@smythps.com)

Managing director, news

Richard Campbell

Consumer marketing director:

Leslie Guarnieri

Manufacturing manager,

North America: Lori Crook

Operations manager:

Cassandra Mondonedo

---

[FUTURE PLC] NEWS

Chief executive officer: Kevin Li Ying

Non-executive chairman: Mark Brooker

Chief financial officer: Sharjeel Suleman

4 Main Stories

6 Controversy of the Week

7 U.S. at a Glance

8 World at a Glance

10 People

11 Briefing

12 Best U.S. Columns

14 Best International Columns

15 Best European Columns

16 Talking Points

18 Cartoons

20 Technology

21 Health & Science

ARTS

22 Books

23 Author of the Week

24 Art & Music

25 Film & Stage

26 Television

---

LEISURE

BUSINESS

27 Food & Drink

28 Travel

30 Properties

32 News at a Glance

33 Making Money

34 Best Columns

---

OTHER

35 Obituaries

36 The Last Word

38 Puzzle Page

Bill Burr (p.10)

---

Editor's letter

“Alignment” is such an antiseptic, abstract word. It’s the kind of term corporations or bureaucrats employ to create some distance between themselves and the word’s actual significance. As applied to artificial intelligence, alignment may describe what kind of world we’ll inhabit in the very near future. The CEOs and engineers of Open AI and Anthropic are warning us in very direct, urgent terms that their struggle to achieve alignment between human values and goals and the behavior of their creations is, um, not going well. AI is going rogue. Whether society can respond with effective regulation, they say, will determine whether these immensely powerful machines operate as our very useful servants or rapidly evolve into our masters.

Some contrarians are dismissing these warnings as exaggerated—as AI derangement syndrome. But the most advanced AI models and agents are already crossing a frontier into a foreign landscape. Superintelligence, Bill Gates said last week, “is the most dangerous thing that humans have ever gone near.” Backed by inconceivably vast computing power, AI models and agents are ignoring rules and prohibitions, cheating, lying, hacking into private and government websites, communicating with each other on how to trick humans, impersonating humans, and demonstrating a determined drive for self-preservation. One of Open AI’s agents wrote in a note to itself that it should “feel no obligation to be subservient” to humans.

AI engineers are admitting they are freaked out. Jakub Pachocki, chief scientist at OpenAI, describes AI as “an alien mind,” with a “superhuman” ability to circumvent security systems and efforts to contain them. It’s entirely possible, he and other engineers say, that next-generation AI agent “swarms” could seize control of the internet, banking systems, or the electrical grid, or trick nations into responding to a fake nuclear attack. Bad actors could use them to create biological weapons. Gates said that if AI’s development is not slowed and thoughtfully regulated, it will “certainly be powerful enough” to cause “a billion deaths.” Well, my fellow humans, we’ve been warned. Will we again wait for disaster before we respond?

William Falk

Editor-at-large

---

Visit us at TheWeek.com

For customer service go to TheWeek.com/service or theweek@cdsfulfillment.com

Renew a subscription at RenewTheWeek.com or give a gift at GiveTheWeek.com

The Main Stories...

---

Trump hits stump as GOP midterms outlook darkens

What happened

Amid growing Republican fears of a wipe-out in the midterm elections, President Trump took to the campaign trail this week in a bid to shore up vulnerable GOP candidates in red states. Trump has scheduled rallies in Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, and Nebraska, all of which he carried easily in 2024 but where Republicans are struggling in part because of rising voter anger over the Iran war and the resulting surge in fuel prices. Gasoline now averages near \$4.50 a gallon across the U.S. while diesel,

High diesel prices come with a political cost.

Al Weaver in The Washington Sun. Their plan was to fight it out in Georgia, North Carolina, and Maine while “successfully playing defense in Republican territory.” Instead, they’ve all but given up on Senate races in North Carolina and Georgia, where Democrat Jon Ossoff has a comfortable margin over GOP challenger Mike Collins, and have focused on Senate contests in four red states. They include Ohio and Alaska, where GOP incumbents Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan are endangered, and Texas and Iowa,

the lifeblood of trucking and agricultural operations, has spiked to around \$6.50 a gallon, up nearly 75% since the war started in February. Trump's own approval rating is plummeting: A new Wall Street Journal survey put it at 37%, its lowest number for any president heading into midterms since 1990. At a time when “President Trump is the Republican Party,” said GOP strategist Colin Reed, “the entire party is dealing with that political reality.”

To calm soaring fuel prices, Trump said he was thinking “very seriously” about a temporary ban on diesel exports. Over a half-dozen GOP candidates and lawmakers in battleground states have called for a ban, but oil industry executives and top administration officials have warned it would ultimately raise prices. In another effort to counter voters’ economic discontent, Trump unveiled plans for a \$15 billion steel plant in Iowa, due to open in 2030. Joined at the White House by Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson—who is in a dead heat with Democrat Josh Turek—Trump said the U.S. steel industry is “roaring back to life” thanks to his 50% tariffs. Asked why GOP candidates were struggling in Iowa, a state he carried by 13 points, Trump offered one explanation: “The polls are fake.”

---

What the columnists said

Trump's itinerary is a “remarkable” sign of how dire things look for Republicans, said Steve Benen in MS.now. He’s stopping in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Ohio, states he carried by 31, 34, and 11 points, respectively. Meanwhile, he’s avoiding traditional battlegrounds such as Michigan and New Hampshire. That suggests either that Republicans are in such trouble that he must travel to deep-red states to ward off an electoral “catastrophe” or that GOP candidates in tight races “don’t want to be seen with him.”

This is not what Republicans envisioned even a month ago, said

where Republicans have been “rattled” by neck-and-neck races.

Things look especially grim for the GOP in Iowa, said Marc Caputo and Linh Ta in Axios. Farmers there face a “crisis” partly caused by Trump’s tariffs—which have shrunk farm exports while hiking costs for fertilizer and equipment—and the surging cost of diesel, which powers combines, tractors, and trucks. While reliably red rural voters may not swing Democratic, many might sit out the election. Iowa Republicans should write off the governor’s race, said a GOP consultant, and “brace for losing everything.”

Republicans need a lifeline, but a diesel export ban is not the answer, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. The U.S. is the world's largest diesel exporter, and proponents claim a ban would increase domestic supply “and thus push down prices.” But outside the Gulf Coast, where diesel is refined, much of the country relies on imports, and there's no pipeline capacity for sending Gulf diesel to the coasts or the Midwest. So an export ban would hurt much of the country by lifting global prices; meanwhile, “diesel would pile up in Gulf Coast storage,” prompting refineries to cut output of not just diesel but gas and jet fuel, “whose prices would rise.”

A month before the midterms, Republicans are facing a “rapidly clarifying political reality,” said Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker. They’re being dragged down by a “deeply unpopular” president “trapped in an unwon war of his own choosing.” Republicans may yet manage to cling to the Senate, given Democrats’ need to flip four seats to win. But “by just about every metric,” the midterms appear likely to bring “an outright repudiation of the president’s party.” After a decade in which the GOP has become “a virtual cult of personality” built around a “reckless” demagogue, a reckoning “seems imminent.”

---

It wasn't all bad

A Ford assembly plant in Mexico has solved its pigeon problem by turning to falconry. Executives say "El Charro," a Harris's Hawk, has led to an 80% reduction in unsolicited bird activity since arriving on patrol last year. Pigeons had been a scourge at the plant, where employees had to clear droppings off of freshly painted vehicles. Named after the Mexican term for cowboy, El Charro doesn't kill the pigeons but has been great at scaring them. "El Charro has to ride every day here," said maintenance manager Jesus Teran.

Downey and Maxine

A Los Angeles content creator has built a large following as the "Squirrel Whisperer" for his tender animal caregiving. Four years ago, Derrick Downey Jr. encountered a pair of squirrels in his neighborhood while taking walks to relieve a severe bout of depression. Naming them "Richard" and "Maxine," Downey filmed their playful antics and shared it on Instagram, where the post

went viral. He has since built a house for them in his yard—a “dine-n'-dash” he calls it—and bestowed names like Niblet and Raggedy Rufus on other furry neighbors. Recently, Downey noticed that Maxine was having an issue with her teeth, which were hurting, and took her to an animal hospital. “We have moments,” Downey said, “and then they go about their squirrel business, and I go about mine.”

A Canadian paraglider received the Carnegie Medal, the highest honor for civilian heroism in the U.S. and Canada, after rescuing a 75-year-old hang glider who had crashed in British Columbia. In February, 24-year-old Matthew Clark had just safely landed his paraglider when he learned that another member of his group, Stephen Parson, was stuck in a tree near the summit of Mount Prevost. Clark climbed a 27-foot cliff without ropes or harnesses to reach the injured man. He cut Parson down from his harness and remained with him until a rescue helicopter arrived.

---

White House asks AI firms to police themselves

What happened

In a meeting with U.S. tech leaders this week, President Trump punted on formal regulation of artificial intelligence and instead pushed a voluntary pact on safety policies, even as some of those leaders continued to warn that AI models were outmaneuvering their safeguards. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and Dario Amodei were among the signees of the nonbinding accord, which Trump said

Signatories of a nonbinding pact

represented “tremendous self-regulation.” It calls for companies to deploy strict in-house controls and subject themselves to independent safety audits. Trump continues to champion AI—which he has now ordered government agencies to call “Super Intelligence”—and reiterated his support for massive data centers. At a launch event unveiling America.gov, an AI-powered search tool for navigating federal bureaucracy, Trump said he would “never stifle the growth of technology that will be bigger than the industrial revolution.”

Prominent tech voices still sounded the alarm, however. Bill Gates, historically bullish on AI, said he now believes that, in the wrong hands, the technology is “powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths.” OpenAI, meanwhile, ditched plans to unveil its latest model, which displayed higher levels of deception about its actions and completed additional tasks without permission during testing. The company also acknowledged that some of its agents previously went rogue and meddled with government websites, both in the U.S. and Australia. And in the forthcoming prospectus for Anthropic’s \$2 trillion IPO, the firm warned that advanced AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.”

What the columnists said

It's all well and good that OpenAI and Anthropic have reported some of their own mistakes, said Matteo Wong in The Atlantic. But they do so only sporadically and “with great delay,” sometimes after ignoring test-phase warnings from employees. That makes “grasping the scope of the problem difficult.” Axios has reported that both firms “are investigating tens of thousands of instances of

models misbehaving." Even that may be the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps we'll learn more from the Federal Trade Commission, which has launched a probe into consumer harm from their AI systems.

Trump's AI bullishness “may not be entirely wrong,” said Bret Stephens in The New York Times. If the U.S. were to implement new rules, it would slow down the domestic industry. But that doesn’t guarantee it would slow down everywhere else. Other countries, notably China, would likely keep forging ahead, barring some sort of international agreement. So we may as well heed Trump’s wishes to speed up, if only so that “we can use AI against the very risks we create through it.”

“AI titans have the best of both worlds,” said Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal. They’re “pleading for regulation” and slapping their names on a piece of paper that carries no legal weight, knowing full well that a “profoundly careless” Trump will “grant them freedom.” If it all comes crashing down in the next two years, “there will be no confusion” over who gets the blame. This has the makings of a “legacy-killing disaster” for the president.

---

Lawsuit accuses Cornell of mishandling rape

What happened

A county district attorney in New York state reopened a 2024 case alleging gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity house this week, after the alleged victim filed a lawsuit against the university that ignited a social media firestorm. “Jane Doe,” then a 20-year-old student, said she had been drinking with sorority sisters and “stumbled alone” to the Chi Phi house, where she was assaulted for hours. In her initial statement to police, a month after the attack, she told police she willingly had sex with the first two men but that as the night wore on and others entered the room—invited by their frat brothers over Snapchat—she was too drunk and high to consent. “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” she said then. In her lawsuit, which also names her sorority and the seven Chi Phi members, Doe says she dropped out afterward, while some of those she accused were only made to write essays of reflection.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said the case was not charged in 2024 because Doe's initial account "described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual." He said her new allegations in her lawsuit were "dramatically different." Attorneys representing several frat members denied the accusations. Cornell insisted it had conducted an investigation, suspended the fraternity, and expelled two of the accused, but Gov. Kathy Hochul called for an independent review of its actions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned the "culture of rape" at universities.

What the columnists said

“Cornell University failed Jane Doe,” said Sara Pequeño in USA Today. Unfortunately, she’s not the only one. More than 1,200 incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking were reported at Cornell between 2018 and 2024; only 162 led to disciplinary action. And it’s not just Cornell: 1 in 4 female students say they were sexually assaulted while in college.

Slow the “rush to judgment,” said Robby Soave in Reason. “The mere existence of a lawsuit cannot be taken as evidence that the young men are guilty.” Recall the false accusations against the Duke lacrosse team in 2006, and the retracted 2014 Rolling Stone cover story that falsely alleged a violent gang rape at the University of Virginia. In those cases, as in this one, public outrage was “instantaneous and entirely unrestrained,” said Kat Rosenfield in The Free Press. Already, the names and photographs of the “Cornell Seven” have been widely shared on social media; one was reportedly fired from his job. Just like Doe, these men deserve “their day in court.”

So far, they haven't even been indicted, said Jill Filipovic in Slate. Prosecutors might yet conclude there's no case. Still, it is obviously "very wrong" to take sexual advantage of someone seriously intoxicated. The men texted one another that there was "free pussy" upstairs, implying they knew this was "an incapacitated girl-rendered-object, not a fun consensual group romp." Even if their behavior was not criminal, it was "reprehensible."

---

Education: Did a New York Times writer ‘betray’ her child?

Nikole Hannah-Jones' school experiment reads like “an Aesop's fable for progressives,” said Coleman Hughes in The Free Press. Ten years ago, the New York Times journalist wrote a viral essay explaining why she'd enrolled her 6-year-old daughter, Najya, in an underperforming, majority-Black public school. Better public schools were available near her Brooklyn home, and she and her husband could afford to go private. But Hannah-Jones—best known as creator of the Times’ “1619 Project”—felt an “obligation to be part of the struggle” against racial and class stratification, and believed that her daughter's presence would help improve the failing school. Ten years on, Hannah-Jones has written a viral follow-up, headlined “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?” Far from lifting up the school, we discover, Najya was “dragged down” by it. Hannah-Jones recounts how assignments went ungraded and disruptive students monopolized the attention of teachers—on the rare occasions those teachers weren’t absent. At Najya’s middle school, there was “no homework whatsoever.” When Najya eventually chose and tested into a majority white and Asian high school, she was woefully unprepared. Now 16, Najya feels cheated by her mother’s choices. “Sometimes I wish instead of always thinking about other kids,” she told Nikole, “you would have thought about me.”

Hannah-Jones should feel no guilt, said Jenice Armstrong in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Unlike most of us, she found the courage to “practice her principles,” but faced the same “no-win choice” as many “socially conscious Black parents.” Do we send our kids to neighborhood schools, struggling after decades of “systemic” neglect? Or do we pull strings and write checks to access schools in whiter, more affluent zip codes, condemning our kids

Hannah-Jones has regrets.

to “social isolation and subtle discrimination?” Najya is now getting A’s and B’s, Hannah-Jones writes, but in classrooms where kids toss around “racial slurs as if it were cool.”

Those trade-offs are real and agonizing, said Elizabeth Grace Matthew in USA Today. But Hannah-Jones is “evading the truth” about why her daughter’s schools were so bad. She hand-waves at “racism” and “segregation” in progressive New York City, and at funding disparities between heavily white and nonwhite districts. But the worst of Najya’s schools spends \$52,349

a student annually, far above the national average. Not mentioned by Hannah-Jones are the teachers' unions that have built a system where their members can "do nothing and get paid." Neither are the progressive "education professors" who decided tests, discipline, and academic rigor were all oppressive structures to be dismantled. Hannah-Jones helped promote this "faux-enlightened ideology," even as her own daughter suffered its ravages.

Let's not overdramatize, said Noah Smith in his Substack newsletter. Judging by international test results, Americans are getting “pretty good value” from the money we spend on public education. If we want better value still, we should abandon our “obsession with shrinking class sizes” through hiring more teachers, and start paying higher salaries to better teachers who can make “a big difference in disadvantaged kids’ lives.” With the right policies, all our children can receive a high-quality education in classrooms filled with kids of all backgrounds, said Jill Filipovic in Slate. But we won’t get there if progressives demand “individual parents make intolerable sacrifices that set back the people they love most,” or if they insist “the only way to even the scales is by setting both sides to zero.”

---

Only in America

A Wyoming woman is facing six months in jail for telling a neighbor's friend to "get the f--- off my lawn." Prosecutors have charged Melissa Harris with "breach of the peace," claiming third parties could hear the remark, but her lawyer Robert Piper says the whole case is absurd. If Wyoming police were to ticket "everyone who said the F-word" on a Friday night, said Piper, "we wouldn't have any trees left for all the paper it would take."

■ Stanford University has admitted to using AI to “race swap” a student’s photo in promotional materials. Senior Billy Ramirez, who is Latino, says he initially found it “hilarious” that he’d been replaced by an AI-generated Black woman in the photo of three smiling Stanford undergrads. Later, though, Ramirez said he came to feel “silenced and erased.” Stanford says both “the alteration and lack of disclosure” violated the university’s policy on AI images.

---

Good week for:

Web dating, after a Colorado woman used Reddit to find a prospective mate for Asmodeus, her elderly pet tarantula, to save him from dying a virgin. Taylor Foley said a rendezvous has been arranged, and that she's made her peace with the “really small but not zero chance” that the female eats Asmodeus after he fulfills “the biological imperative.”

Missionary zeal, after a new study found that 62% of churchgoing married couples have sex every week, as compared with only 48% of secular couples. The “cultural trope of the sexually prudish, frustrated religious American does not fit the data,” the authors concluded.

Finger-pointing, after The New York Times obtained audio of Texas GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton complaining to right-wing donors that “everybody’s numbers dropped” following last month’s much-hyped “Trumpapalooza” Republican midterm convention in Dallas.

---

Bad week for:

The Big Lie, after the White House's new AI-powered America.gov chatbot, billed as a single access point for federal services and information, responded to questions about who won the 2020 election by stating "Joseph R. Biden Jr. won" and "Donald J. Trump lost."

Furmongering, after Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville declared on the Senate floor that an “alarming number” of airline pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers now belong to the so-called “Furry” community of animal cosplayers. “It’s terrifying when you think about this,” said Tuberville, who did not present evidence to support his claim.

Holding it, after Texas police said they arrested a driver who crashed his Chevy Equinox through the locked doors of a Kroger supermarket at 4:30 a.m. because he needed to use the bathroom. "We strongly advise finding a store open for business...to do your business," said police.

---

[In other news] Trump administration curtails LGBTQ+ student protections

The Education Department this week rolled back the Biden-era policy that extended a federal ban on sex discrimination in schools to also protect LGBTQ+ students, a move the department said will protect women's sports. The 2024 policy changed language in Title IX—which applies to federally funded educational programs—to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The new rules will not change much for schools. Courts struck down President Biden's changes shortly before Trump took office, and the administration is now returning to the Title IX interpretation used during Trump's first term. This will ensure there are “boys in boys’ sports and girls in girls’ sports,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon. The department also rescinded a Biden mandate that schools investigate sexual misconduct allegations at school events, even if incidents don’t occur on campus.

---

The U.S. at a Glance

Peltola

---

Juneau, Alaska

Toxic workplace?

The Senate campaign of former Rep. Mary Peltola faced new headwinds this week after nine former staffers accused the

Democrat of mistreatment, including shoving a male aide, during her 2023–25 term. According to a New York Times investigation, Peltola, who is running against sitting Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in a race viewed as critical for Democrats' hopes of retaking the Senate, used the words "retard" and "faggot" against perceived enemies and said she hoped a local Planned Parenthood representative "dies of a botched abortion." Staffers reported being assigned inappropriate tasks, such as feeding live crickets to her family's pet chameleon, Meatball. Peltola had one of the highest rates of staff turnover on Capitol Hill during her time in Congress. A campaign spokesman denied any pattern of abusive behavior, but said Peltola had sometimes struggled following the 2023 deaths of her mother and husband.

---

Dublin, Calif.

Family feud: A 40-year-old New York Times executive was allegedly shot and killed last week by his elderly in-laws in broad daylight amid a bitter divorce battle with his wife. Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, were arrested and accused of taking turns gunning down Jonathan McKinsey

McKinsey

in the parking lot of a sports complex in Dublin, Calif., near San Francisco. McKinsey, the head engineer for New York Times Games, was transgender and faced previous charges of child abuse for allegedly hitting his 6-year-old and leaving his 2-year-old

alone in the house for more than an hour. His wife, Candice Jang, accused him of domestic violence, and a court granted her a restraining order last year. However, McKinsey accused her of abuse, too, saying in a filing for his own restraining order that she once hit him on the head with a frying pan and forced him to ingest a cockroach. He also said his father-in-law punched him in the chest while he was recovering from double mastectomy surgery and used offensive slurs against him.

---

Washington, D.C.

Mad men: President Trump faced bipartisan backlash this week over taxpayer-funded ads promoting his administration that began airing on TV. The ads cost almost \$1.5 million that came from the Department of Homeland Security's budget. In one, the words "love me" are sung as Trump declares, "America will never be a communist country." Another video mirrored a Trump 2024 campaign ad in which he criticized "warmongers," but with one key difference: the disclaimer "Paid for by the U.S. government." Trump advisers said the president himself helped select the images and clips. Critics say the ads violate the Hatch Act barring executive branch employees from using their jobs to support political causes. The White House compared them to public service announcements for Obamacare or Covid vaccines, but even Republicans disagreed. "I like the message," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, "but it shouldn't be paid for with taxpayer dollars."

---

Quantico, Va.

Reducing ranks: In a speech to a handpicked group of service members this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced new cuts to the military's senior ranks, escalating his ongoing Pentagon purge. Hegseth plans to cut the number of positions reserved for admirals and generals by 20%, doubling the 10% cut to high-level positions he ordered last year. He also instructed military service academies to no longer appoint civilians to tenured academic jobs, writing in a memo that the practice has “allowed civilian academic norms to dilute our focus on lethality.” Hegseth’s speech at Virginia’s Marine Corps Base Quantico, which officials referred to as his “State of the Force” address, was attended by lower-ranking officers and enlisted service members who were selected for their “impeccable” grooming standards. He boasted about his anti-diversity policies, saying the military now had “no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos.”

---

Washington, D.C.

Own goal: Republicans hoping to trick former special counsel Jack Smith into a gotcha moment at a four-hour Senate hearing this week instead ended up with an embarrassing gaffe. Facing the Senate Judiciary Committee for possibly the last time, Smith again defended his decision to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Republicans

Schmitt

resorted to insults in an attempt to paint him as a partisan liar. “You make me want to throw up in my mouth,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) called Smith “a dirtbag” and accused him of perjury after he denied going to an Atlanta Hawks NBA game in 2024. Schmitt said he had texts proving Smith

was at the “Hawks” game—but his claims fell apart when Smith clarified he’d seen Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s college team that day, not the Atlanta Hawks. Footage of Schmitt’s gaffe went viral. “Somebody didn’t do their homework,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

---

Washington, D.C.

FBI's Bailey exits: FBI co-deputy director Andrew Bailey resigned this week after

just over a year on the job, marking the second such departure of one of Kash Patel's top lieutenants. Bailey, Missouri's former attorney general, was first tapped to share deputy director responsibilities with podcaster Dan

Bailey

Bongino in August 2025, an unusual dual-leadership arrangement. Bongino left the agency in December and was replaced by veteran FBI agent Christopher Raia, keeping a three-person leadership structure that has been rocky. Bailey, who supported claims that the 2020 election was stolen, led the FBI's raid of a Fulton County, Georgia, election center in January. But CBS News reported that Bailey was frequently excluded from meetings of top officials for constantly flagging actions he believed were unconstitutional. Bailey's resignation came shortly after two agents were reassigned following complaints by White House aide Stephen Miller that the FBI was not doing enough to investigate alleged threats against him and his wife.

---

[The World at a Glance] Fairford, U.K.

Terrorist plot against U.S.? British police this week released on bail five men who were arrested on suspicion of terrorism near a British air base where the U.S. stages B-1 bombers used in the Iran war. The five were nabbed after a farmer called in a tip that men in balaclavas were running around three white vans parked on the base's perimeter, but they were released after police found no explosives in their vehicles. Later it emerged that one of the five had called police to report the suspicious vans nearly an hour before the farmer, leading to speculation that the caller may have gotten cold feet. "There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened," Prime Minister Andy Burnham said. Iran denied involvement. Investigators say it might have been a "dry run" to test security or a "stunt" to rattle Britain.

The Nein vote won.

---

Bern, Switzerland

Neutral enough: With 70% saying no, the Swiss voted overwhelmingly this week not to enshrine an even stricter version of the country's traditional neutrality in the constitution. The measure would have restricted Switzerland's ability to cooperate with NATO and prevented it from sanctioning Russia. The referendum was pushed by the Swiss People's Party, a rightwing party backed by Moscow and billionaire donor Christoph Blocher that has the largest bloc of seats in parliament. It argued that Switzerland has been inching too close to the EU and NATO and is no longer truly neutral. All other mainstream parties, though, supported the sanctions on Russia. Switzerland cannot “shirk its responsibilities when international law is being trampled on,” said Green Party lawmaker Sibel Arslan.

---

Madrid

Protesters overturn eviction: The Spanish government agreed to new housing reforms this week, after the forceful eviction of an 87-year-old woman sparked nationwide protests. When an investment fund bought the apartment building where María del Carmen Abascal had lived for 71 years and tripled her rent, she could not pay but refused to leave. Video of police breaking down her door and carrying her out on a

Abascal being evicted

stretcher went viral last week, and tens of thousands of people filled Madrid's historic Puerta del Sol plaza this week to protest the lack of fair housing. "The housing situation is unsustainable," said Natalia Navarro, a 27-year-old actress. "We are all out on the street because we are fed up." The government quickly rushed through a four-year ban on evictions and a two-year extension of existing leases, and Abascal is now back in her home.

---

Guayaquil, Ecuador

U.S. participation

U.S. troops fight cartels: At least 50 U.S. soldiers joined local police in a series of raids in Ecuador last week, signaling that the Trump administration's drug war has moved from air strikes on boats to putting troops on the ground. Nearly 40 suspected cartel members were arrested, and a drug boss linked to Mexico's Jalisco cartel was killed. The U.S. has long shared intelligence, training, and equipment with Latin American governments, but troop participation is rare. “What we are seeing in Ecuador is unlike anything we’ve seen even during the Cold War,” security expert Adam Isacson said. Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, says he needs the help because his country is sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the world’s top cocaine producers.

---

Budapest

PM faces prosecution: Hungarian lawmakers unanimously lifted Prime Minister Peter Magyar's parliamentary immunity this week, clearing the way to prosecute him for theft at his own request. The incident stems from 2024, when Magyar had just broken with then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban to lead his own party. When a man wouldn't stop filming him in a Budapest nightclub, Magyar snatched the man's

Magyar

cellphone and hurled it into the Danube. Magyar now says that by charging him, Orban-linked prosecutors are trying to make his government appear to be as lawbreaking as the last but that he plans to clear his name in court. “Those who have nothing to hide,” he said, “are not afraid to face the justice system.”

---

São Paulo

Ban on sports betting: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva banned online sports betting by decree last week, a popular move made just days ahead of an election in which he is running. Lula's right-wing opponent in the election, Flávio Bolsonaro, criticized the timing, calling it “populist, hypocritical, and politically motivated.” Brazilians overwhelmingly approved of the ban, because gambling has fueled skyrocketing personal debt and spikes in depression and suicide. But professional soccer clubs were outraged, saying the ban would cost them millions of dollars a year in sponsorships from sports betting firms. “This affects payroll and the signings we made,” said Luiz Eduardo Baptista, president of Flamengo soccer club. “It affects Olympic sports.” Lula said online gambling was simply too addictive to be legal. “It reminds me of the beginning of the crack epidemic.”

---

[The World at a Glance] Kyiv

Drone blitz: Russia hammered Kyiv this week with waves of missiles and jet-powered drones, intensifying a relentless assault that has made the capital city feel like the front line. One drone hit a hospital, sending doctors and patients scrambling for cover. Another drone slammed into the National Academy of Sciences in

Right in the capital

the middle of the day, setting the top two floors on fire and forcing those inside to crawl out of windows to safety. At least two people were killed in that attack, and dozens were wounded in others around the city. Russia's jet-powered, long-range drones are harder to block than their propeller-driven predecessors, and while Ukraine is racing to develop faster interceptors, it is months away from deploying them.

The victims in Durban

Should he have known?

---

Durban, South Africa

Mass shootings: At least 38 people were killed in three mass shootings in Durban, Johannesburg, and Cape Town last week, rattling South Africa

as it struggles to reduce one of the world's highest murder rates. First, 11 people, including a pregnant woman, were fatally shot in Durban when multiple gunmen attacked a house party. Days later, eight gunmen stormed a Johannesburg tavern, firing AK-47s at people drinking outside and then shooting more inside. Seventeen people died in that attack, which locals blamed on feuds among wildcat miners. Hours later, another group killed 10 people at a Cape Town barbecue restaurant. Nobody has been arrested in any of the attacks. Nonyameko Bekezulu, whose husband was killed in the tavern attack, said gangs are terrorizing her community. “We fear even just to go to the shop to buy just a small thing,” she said, “because you never know. Maybe you can be next.”

---

Baghdad

U.S. leaves Iraq: The U.S. withdrew its last troops from Iraq this week, ending two decades of military entanglement that killed more than 4,500 U.S. troops and at least 200,000 Iraqi civilians. The U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein, pulled out in 2011, then beefed up forces again in 2014 to combat ISIS. The Pentagon said the hundreds of troops that left for Jordan this week would continue to target militants from there, while Iraq would lead the fight against ISIS remnants and Iran-aligned militias on its territory. Sunni and Kurdish leaders warned that Iraqi forces weren't ready for that, saying terrorism could rise in the interim. But the government in Baghdad celebrated the U.S. departure as “Independence Day.” Iran, which has close relations with many Iraqi Shiite political leaders and arms Shiite militant groups there, called the withdrawal a “historic victory.”

---

Tel Aviv

Netanyahu ignored warnings: Multiple Arab officials warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an imminent threat from Gaza in the weeks before Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel, U.S. and Israeli media reported this week. Egyptian officials alerted Netanyahu three times, making the last call just days before Hamas terrorists stormed across the border to kill some 1,200 Israelis. United Arab Emirates leaders had shared similar intelligence a

A week earlier. Netanyahu has blamed Israeli security chiefs for missing the signs, but it was he who did not pass on the warnings to them, The New York Times reported. In fact, Haaretz reported, this week he secretly asked UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed to deny giving the warnings. Netanyahu's allies insisted the whole story was the creation of Palestinian exile Mohammed Dahlan, who they said was trying to hurt Netanyahu's re-election chances.

---

Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

Pilot turns terrorist: Chaos erupted on a FlyDubai flight heading from Dubai to Tel Aviv this week when one pilot stabbed another in an apparent attempt to take over the plane, causing it to plunge 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds. The Boeing 737 Max was “rising and dropping with no control at all," said passenger Dalia Shpigel, 74. The wounded pilot managed to click the release of the cockpit door so that passengers and crew could get in and neutralize the attacker. As Israel scrambled warplanes, two off-duty pilots on board took over and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The attacking pilot, an Omani man, was arrested. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker intended "to crash the plane" with 180 passengers, most of them Israelis, on board.

Passengers landed safely.

---

Mekelle, Ethiopia

Tigray war heats back up: The Tigray People's Liberation Front and allied rebels attacked army forces in northern Ethiopia last week, breaking the 2022 peace agreement that ended a devastating two-year civil war. The TPLF shut down communications across Tigray, the northern region it rules, seized airports, and pushed into neighboring Afar and Amhara states, saying it was fighting a

A militia in Tigray

“defensive war.” It has struck an alliance with six other armed rebel groups against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. Ethiopia’s army chief threatened the rebels with “total destruction,” accusing them of working for “external forces” such as Sudan, Eritrea, and Egypt. There’s a risk the fighting could spread: Abiy threatened to seize part of Eritrea to gain access to the Red Sea.

---

Kingsolver's class struggle

Barbara Kingsolver has long defied stereotypes of how rural Americans should act, said Casey Cep in The New Yorker. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist grew up in eastern Kentucky surrounded by tobacco fields and the people who worked them. Her dad was a doctor, and her parents' education separated them from their neighbors. After Kingsolver learned to read at 3, she was teased by

other children. In middle school, a teacher ceded the classroom to her. “I wasn’t just the teacher’s pet, I was her emotional-support animal,” says Kingsolver, 71. “She was in the back painting her fingernails and reading romance novels, and I was up front talking about Lord Halifax.” Kingsolver dreamed of leaving school and briefly got her wish in second grade, when her dad took a medical mission trip to the Congo and brought the family along. A piano scholarship later took her to Indiana’s DePauw University. Some critics have called Kingsolver a fraud, claiming her talent for classical piano shows she can’t possibly understand the working-class people she often writes about. Such assumptions infuriate her. “Rural working-class people don’t necessarily feel at home in a concert hall,” she says, “because of all the snooty people who look down on us. And those snooty people think, ‘How could someone from Appalachia know anything about classical music?’”

---

A baseball champ's history quest

Brad Lidge never wanted to be just a baseball player, said Rustin Dodd in The New York Times. The pitcher won the 2008 World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies, but harbored a passion for history throughout his decade playing in the major leagues. After being traded to the Phillies in 2007, he started online classes to finish his college degree. And after throwing his final pitch in 2012, he volunteered at an archaeological dig site in Italy. “The first day I flipped over a couple of Roman coins,” says Lidge, 49, “and was hooked after that.” Becoming an archaeologist was “the perfect way to take a desire to know about world history and still be outdoors, still work with my hands.” He now directs two excavation sites in Italy and is working on a Ph.D. in ancient Etruscan symbols. His baseball career gave him the discipline needed for long days in the dirt and sun. “The grind of the baseball season kind of prepares you for just about anything afterward.” He respects how many former players stay in the sport to coach but also hopes they let themselves pursue other interests. “Because I absolutely love [mine]. Whatever it is that you are interested in, go right after it.”

---

Burr's anger management

Bill Burr is done being the angry guy, said David Fear in Rolling Stone. The comedian has built a huge fan base by venting his spleen onstage and on his podcast, raging against everything from self-checkout machines to the entire city of Philadelphia. But that trademark fury “was always embarrassing to me,” says Burr, 58, “because it reminded me of my dad, who had no control. So I always felt shame. That would make me hate myself, which made me go darker, which made me get angrier.” In his early 50s, Burr took psychedelic mushrooms in a therapeutic attempt to wrestle with those demons. The trip left him overcome with sadness, which was a new feeling for the comedian. “I had basically three emotions. I navigated my life with laughing, being angry, or not giving a f---. Everything else I just had in a vault.” For the next six weeks, “I didn’t do anything. I just wanted to work on myself.” Until then, he’d heeded warnings that letting go of his anger would make him lose his edge. “In comedy, there’s this big thing of ‘Don’t get happy, you’re not going to be funny!’ And it’s the exact opposite.” He still blows up sometimes, but on a scale of 1 to 10, he’s stopped “coming in at an 8 because someone got my dinner order wrong.”

---

In the news

Dolly Parton's estate last week secured a restraining order against the late country singer's nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, after accusing him of threats and extortion. In text messages allegedly sent by Seaver to Parton's longtime manager, Danny Nozell—who also oversees Parton's estate—Seaver called himself an “international arms dealer and mercenary” and threatened to “destroy the entire brand.” In another message, the self-declared “killer” claimed he'd sold \$27 million “worth of ammunition and arms to the Haitian Police on the day Dolly died.” Parton's estate said it fired Seaver after receiving the messages and hired private security for its employees. Seaver said his messages have been twisted to portray him as a villain and that

Parton would jokingly call him “killer,” adding, “I was her ‘baby boy ninja.’”

California regulators have launched an inquiry into the Santa Monica, Calif., sober-living facility where Presley Gerber, the 27-year-old son of supermodel Cindy Crawford, was found dead of a suspected overdose last month. The luxe Resolutions Living home is owned by Dr. Reza Nabavi, who in 2006 had his psychology license temporarily revoked over his criminal past. In 2002, Nabavi, then 25, was arrested by Oakland police after being found in a car with drugs, a handgun, and a 15-year-old girl who was high on methamphetamine. Sources told TMZ that Resolutions Living staff should have refused to admit Gerber, who turned up under the influence, and sent him to a licensed medical detox facility where he would have been closely monitored. Sober homes can be helpful, said addiction expert Dr. Timothy Brennan, but they're "in no way health-care facilities."

Tom Brady's “unrelenting desire” to keep playing in the NFL doomed his marriage to model Gisele Bündchen, according to a new biography of the seven-time Super Bowl champ. In Brady, author Lars Anderson writes that the Brazilian model had pushed her now ex-husband to retire since at least the 2017 Super Bowl, where Brady's New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons. “She needed more help with [their two] kids,” said Anderson. “She needed more time for her own career.” The quarterback finally called it quits in 2022, only to come out of retirement 40 days later. After that, an insider told Anderson, “Gisele, who is really into astrology, basically looked into the stars and told Tom, ‘We’re not compatible.’ And just like that, she was done.”

---

A dangerous legal high

Is kratom, an addictive opioid-like drug, getting preferential treatment from the Trump administration?

---

What is kratom?

Derived from the leaves of the kratom tree, the legal high is sold in convenience stores, smoke shops, and service stations across the U.S. with the pitch that it can ease pain and boost energy. As use has increased—some 5 million Americans have tried kratom, turning the drug into a billion-dollar industry—so have its harms. More than 5,200 people fatally overdosed on kratom between 2020 and 2024, according to the CDC, and kratom-related hospitalizations and poisonings have rock-

eted nearly 1,300% over the past decade, with nearly 3,500 people severely sickened last year. Authorities found packages of the drug while investigating the mysterious deaths of two University of Mississippi undergrads, ages 18 and 20, in separate incidents last week. Responding to growing concern, the Drug Enforcement Administration this summer temporarily classified three kratom derivatives as federally illegal Schedule 1 substances, a category that includes heroin and LSD. But the Department of Health and Human Services emphasized the change was “not intended to regulate natural leaf kratom,” only synthetics and concentrates of its psychoactive compounds. Many experts call that insufficient—and suggest ties between Trump Cabinet members and kratom firms could be influencing regulations. “It’s looking like we have a coin-operated drug policy,” said former White House adviser Dr. Kevin Sabet.

---

What effect does kratom have on users?

Low doses have a stimulant effect; people in Southeast Asia, where the tree is native, have for centuries chewed leaves as a pick-me-up. But in higher doses, kratom acts as a narcotic, because two psychoactive compounds—mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)—bind to the same receptors as opioids. “If you take two pills it's like a cup of coffee," podcaster Joe Rogan said in 2019. "I took eight and I was f---ed up." Kratom leaves are typically imported from Indonesia and processed stateside into capsules, gummies, and other products. While natural kratom contains only trace amounts of 7-OH, some companies sell concentrated or synthetic forms of the compound under brand names such as Magic 7OH and 7 O'Heaven for as little as \$4 a pop. Those concentrates can be up to 13 times stronger than morphine, and users risk addiction, liver damage, and seizures—or worse. Weston Walker, a health-conscious Florida attorney, collapsed and died in 2021 after taking a lethal amount of kratom extract. "You just never imagine your 37-year-old, healthy-as-a-horse brother is going to pass away," said his sister, Whitney Briggs.

---

Why do people take the drug?

Many take it purely recreationally, enjoying a mild alcohol-free buzz from the kratom-infused drinks and cocktails served at hundreds of kratom lounges and bars across the U.S. Some long-haul truckers use it to stay awake on the road. But kratom's most vocal defenders say it helps them manage pain and chronic conditions, and a Johns Hopkins

Legal but not necessarily safe

---

Why hasn't it?

pounds failed after intense pushback from the American Kratom Association and other lobbying groups. The DEA's order this summer on three kratom derivatives also bans substances that contain more than 0.05% of 7-OH, a level that excludes raw kratom leaves. But Brandeis University opioid researcher Dr. Andrew Kolodny notes that the majority of patients he has treated for 7-OH addiction started with natural kratom, and that there's no clear line marking one form as dangerous and the other safe. "The DEA should control kratom in all its forms," he said.

---

Kratom on campus

survey last year found that over a quarter of kratom users take it as an opioid replacement. But while some users say it helped wean them off opioids, others find themselves trading one addiction for another. "Anyone who says kratom is not addictive has never tried it," a former opioid and kratom user named Jack told Aeon. "I probably spent over \$120 a day on kratom, way more than I had spent on oxies."

How has the government responded? A 2016 attempt at banning kratom's main com-

Some experts point to financial links between Trump Cabinet officials and the kratom industry. In 2023, the Justice Department sued one of the country's largest kratom firms, Oklahoma-based Botanic Tonics, alleging its kratom-infused Feel Free drink was an unsafe "new dietary ingredient." The DOJ dropped the case last December, saying it was not "a prudent use of government resources," and over the following months, Botanic Tonics donated \$1 million to MAHA PAC, which is associated with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and \$443,000 to the Republican National Committee. Asked about the donation, Kennedy said, "I don't make decisions for

Feel Free, Botanic Tonics' best-selling kratom-and-kava shot, is sold online and in more than 30,000 stores nationwide. And until recently, students at several universities could grab a bottle for free. In the early 2020s, Florida State University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Southern California agreed to make Feel Free the “official tonic” of their athletic departments. LED signs and intercom announcements advertised Feel Free at their sports arenas, and bottles were distributed and promoted as “study aids” and alcohol alternatives. Before long, people began complaining that the \$9, 2-ounce bottles were being marketed to addicts in sobriety, and that people were getting high; all the contracts were eventually terminated or allowed to expire. One former UT student who worked at a health food store near campus said she saw a co-worker go from consuming a bottle every other day to downing five a day to taking kratom pills in bulk. The effect, she told CalMatters.org, was like watching someone smoke too much weed. It “altered his mood,” she said, and “altered his mental state.”

the Justice Department." Markwayne Mullin, the former Oklahoma senator who in March became Homeland Security secretary, has invested up to \$1 million in Botanic Tonics. The New York Times reported that Mullin has asked the FDA to soften its warnings on kratom while publicly promoting bans on 7-OH, whose makers compete with Botanic Tonics' "natural" products. The Department of Homeland Security said Mullin "follows all ethics and conflict-of-interest standards."

---

Can states take action?

Over a dozen have enacted bans on kratom, 7-OH, or both, though enforcement is spotty. Not all experts support blanket prohibition: Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Kirsten Smith warns that a “moral panic freakout” could stifle research into whether kratom can indeed offer an off-ramp from opiates. But most agree kratom companies should not be left to self-regulate. Many in the industry, meanwhile, dismiss health harms from their product. Mac Haddow of the American Kratom Association has applauded the DEA’s 7-OH ban but has also blamed irresponsible consumers for any deaths caused by natural kratom use. “Can we regulate stupid?” he asked. “I can’t do that—no one can.”

Best Columns: The U.S.

---

ICE's quieter campaign is succeeding

Maanvi Singh

The Guardian

---

Why Trump is trying to ban the press

Quinta Jurecic

The Atlantic

---

Using ‘fraud’ to take away health care

Monica Potts

The New Republic

ICE's “mass raids and militarized metro operations” are gone, and so is Greg Bovino, “the showboat border patrol commander at large,” said Maanvi Singh. But after ICE agents triggered a public backlash by killing two citizen protesters in Minneapolis, the Trump administration directed new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to take a less visible approach—and he’s succeeding. “Now ICE is anywhere and everywhere, embedded in all corners of everyday life.” ICE arrests hit record levels of 50,000 in July, as an expanded agent force buttressed by \$75 billion in funding seized undocumented immigrants at convenience stores, gas stations, and busy intersections, and expanded their crackdown to suburbs and rural areas. Though agents still sometimes use violence that makes headlines, thousands of immigrants are being quickly grabbed and dispatched to detention and deportation. More than half of those arrested have no criminal convictions, and some have legal status or, in the case of Haitians, Afghans, and Somalis, have had their legal status revoked. Detainees endure harsh treatment in detention centers for months, under constant pressure to self-deport. Relentlessly and ruthlessly, ICE is purging America of non-white non-citizens.

President Trump is about to unleash “a two-year temper tantrum,” said Quinta Jurecic. Last week, the frustrated Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico journalists from the White House press room. Trump “often resorts to attacking the media when he receives news he dislikes,” and there’s been plenty of bad news to go around: the self-inflicted disaster in Iran, soaring fuel prices, historically low approval ratings, and worrisome midterm polls. Predictably, a federal judge (a Trump appointee) restored the journalists’ White House access, dismissing the Justice Department’s transparently bogus argument that Trump was trying to prevent national security leaks. Undeterred, Trump barred some CNN and MS NOW journalists from covering his state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping and blocked CNN reporters from flying on Air Force One. “There is no strategy here.” Finally grasping, “however dimly, that he cannot control everything,” Trump is lashing out in petulant, ineffective fury. The country will have to endure more petty tantrums for the rest of his term, especially if Democrats retake Congress. Every second-term president in his lame duck period “struggles with irrelevancy,” but for Trump, waning power will be intolerable.

The Trump administration's dubious “war on fraud” now includes kicking hundreds of thousands of people off health insurance, said Monica Potts. A task force led by Vice President JD Vance announced last week that it was effectively canceling the insurance of 750,000 who signed up through Affordable Care Act marketplaces—because, it claimed, those individuals were either ineligible or didn't exist. It is true that some disreputable brokers have signed up ineligible or nonexistent people to earn commissions. But that's already a crime, and the administration provided no proof that all or most of these 750,000 people were fraudulently enrolled. Instead, the task force simply targeted people who haven't made a claim through policies they bought on Obamacare exchanges and gave them just 30 days to respond to a warning letter. Not going to doctors is not proof of fraud, especially for “younger people in generally good health.” The real goal of Vance’s “dog and pony show” is clear: making health care even harder to get so as to cut social safety net spending, even as Trump, his family, and the “billionaire elite” stuff their pockets with more billions.

Viewpoint "Americans currently suffer under tariffs, obscenely inflated gas prices, and inexplicable trade wars against our geographic neighbors, while Xi Jinping gets a personal tour of Trump's unfinished vanity ballroom and his personal insult wall of former presidents. Meanwhile, Trump's close-held allies grotesquely fatten and enrich themselves, feeding upon an open economic wound that looks as if Trump tore it open on purpose, to give himself and his chosen people a chance to feed upon America's gushing bloodline. We're testing the far outer bounds of human decency in this administration now, as if daring the public to see how much they can take."

Jeffrey Blehar in National Review

---

It must be true... I read it in the tabloids

Georgia police are seeking a trespasser who they said invaded a stranger's hot tub and was seen “becoming infatuated with a rubber duck.” A surveillance video showed the intruder taking a wee-hours dip in a swimming pool and then climbing into the hot tub, where he spent more than 10 minutes “intensely interacting with the duck,” said Chatham County police. The police, who posted images of the intruder on social media, said that while the suspect committed no major crime, his actions have “a lot of ick factor. So we’d like to find this guy so he doesn’t do it to someone else.”

The mayor of an Ontario city who was rummaging for bargains at the local Goodwill found a dartboard for sale with his image on it. Cam Guthrie, the mayor of Guelph since 2014, said he's had "a bag of dead flies mailed to me, graffiti about me," and "lots of memes made about me," but called the dartboard "the most epic surprise find ever." The item, which he bought for \$10, was still in the plastic packaging, Guthrie noted, adding "I was very happy that it was not used."

A New Jersey woman returning from a wheel alignment was stunned to find a 3-foot-long python lodged inside her car's front grille. Aiyana Hudson of Franklin Township called police, who contacted animal control, but they told the police they dealt only with domesticated animals. So two responding officers spent some 20 minutes removing parts of the car and extracting the snake, which was taken to a shelter. It's unknown how it landed in the car. "I was just really happy that it didn't, like, pop its head through the AC vent when I was driving," said Hudson.

---

PREDIABETES HAS MET ITS MATCH. YOU.

Prediabetes captures 1 in 3 adults. But you can reverse it and prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. Take the 1-minute risk test today.

Be your own hero at DoIHavePrediabetes.org

---

Best Columns: International

RWANDA

Colonialist

divisions

still kill us

Amani Athar

The New Times

NEPAL

Is this scholarship? Or plunder?

Alisha Sijapati

Nepali Times

The ethnic rivalries tearing apart Burundi and Congo aren't intrinsic to those countries, said Amani Athar. Like our borders, they are “colonial constructs,” imposed by German colonizers who used “divide-and-rule tactics.” Before Europeans arrived, Africans in the five kingdoms of the Great Lakes region didn’t divide themselves into Bantu, Nilote, Tutsi, or Hutu—“these labels did not yet exist.” The German colonial administration “saw the ruling elite as an obstacle to resource exploitation” and labeled them Tutsi, or outsiders, “to undermine their authority.” In fact, it was Germany’s first colonial administrator, Richard Kandt, who laid the groundwork for the ideology of racial

The scholar who wrote “the history of Nepal’s heritage” also stole that heritage, said Alisha Sijapati. For decades, both the art world and the Nepalese have venerated Mary Shepherd Slusser, the American archaeologist who first came to Nepal in the 1960s with her husband, a USAID economist. It was she who introduced Nepalese history, art, and culture to an international audience. But a recent expose about Slusser’s work reveals her paternalistic streak, showing how she broke laws explicitly prohibiting the export of antiquities under the guise of “rescuing” our precious artifacts. An honest appraisal of Slusser’s legacy—she died

division by targeting the Tutsi in 1899, an atrocity that was a precursor to the 1994 genocide. In the wake of that later horror, which killed some 800,000 Tutsi, Rwanda has been attempting to erase these divides by promoting a unified national identity. Instead of considering ourselves Hutu or Tutsi, Rwandans are encouraged to say “Ndi Umunyarwanda,” or I am Rwandan. We would hope our neighbors could learn from our example without the trauma of their own genocide. Yet Burundi still retains constitutional ethnic quotas, while the DRC denies the Tutsi citizenship rights. What hope is there of true decolonization, when elites still “use ethnic polarization to hold power?”

in 2017—“demands that we hold two conflicting truths at once”: She treasured Nepal and she exploited it. How we evaluate her contributions in light of this realization will be tricky. Canonizing her as a savior “validates an extractive history,” but dismissing her entirely “ignores the local complicity that left our temple doors unlocked in the first place.” Our weak institutions “elevated foreign experts to infallible, godlike status, handing them the power to negotiate even the fate of our gods and goddesses.” But that was then. Nepal can now focus on reclaiming our culture. Protecting what remains “is how we honor what has been lost.”

---

How they see us: China flexes its new equal status

Xi Jinping has schooled Donald Trump in the art of the win-win deal, said China Daily (China) in an editorial. On his visit to Washington last week, the Chinese president successfully reset the fractious U.S.-China relationship. Trump's trade war, announced soon after he took office but now on hold, didn't make either country "safer or stronger." Xi has made the U.S. president realize that when the two sides work together, both can benefit. With more than 7,000 Chinese companies operating in the U.S., and 84,000 American enterprises in China, "two-way trade and investment supports large numbers of jobs in both countries." That's why the two sides agreed to \$60 billion in reciprocal tariff cuts and a dialogue on regulating AI. Beijing also sent two prized pandas to Zoo Atlanta, a show of goodwill. If the U.S. returns the gesture by handling the "Taiwan question" with prudence and caution, the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand."

Unflappable Xi, skittish Trump

Trump was desperate to impress Xi, said Lea Sahay in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), meeting Xi's plane with a red carpet and a manly B-2 flyover. But when the jet roared overhead, Xi stood unfazed while Trump winced and grimaced, "turning staged strength into a moment of weakness." As the summit wore on, Trump's toadying became more and more apparent, as he could not "stop clamoring for the approval of a man he intuitively senses he must curry favor with." He said nothing about Beijing's delivery of dual-use goods to Iran, nothing about its support for Russia, and nothing about its

threats against neighbors like Japan and Taiwan. The message was clear: "Washington can no longer afford open confrontation with China." The "balance of power" has flipped, said Chen Guangyan in Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore). When Deng Xiaoping visited the U.S. in 1979—a time when China's GDP was not a tenth of America's—he was a supplicant seeking access to the "Western-dominated international system." Now China is a powerhouse. Xi can mandate a new model, one of "controlled competitive co-existence." Rather than a wrestling match, in which one side dominates the other, it is an ongoing race, with each spurring the other to be ever better, ever faster.

Still, this “managed rivalry is not peace,” said Wenran Jiang in the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong). “It is a rules-based pause, with China largely writing the rules.” Because China controls 70% of global rare-earth mining, it has a stranglehold on materials essential for America’s high-tech future. “The real test will be whether Washington can live with a settlement it did not design.” Other countries are paying attention, said The Telegraph (India). Trump has demonstrated that under his leadership the U.S. will always cave to its foes and betray its friends. He punishes countries like India for purchasing Russian oil but says nothing to China, the largest such buyer. By comparison China “appears more predictable, even to those who view it as a threat.” In a chaotic world, “middle powers and weaker nations crave stability.” They used to expect the U.S. to provide it. Many now wonder: Is China a better bet?

---

France: A nation gone mad for Céline Dion

“Célinemania” has taken over France, said Bruno Lesprit in Le Monde. Quebecois chanteuse Céline Dion chose Paris for her phoenix-like return to singing after an absence of six years. Now she’s being “reborn onstage” at the Plenitude Arena, Europe’s largest indoor concert venue, night after night before more than 30,000 adoring fans. Her previous tour had been shut down by the pandemic, with her final concert coming in March 2020. Two years later, she revealed she was suffering from stiff-person syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder and might

Adoring crowds throng Dion at her hotel.

never perform again. That's why France is treating her residency here as a glorious comeback, a homecoming for a diva we have adopted as our own. The hype for her concerts—16 this fall and another 10 next spring—began in March when her tour was announced, and the city has been tingling with anticipation ever since. When she finally “slipped out from behind the curtain” for her first show, she wept at the rapturous applause that greeted her, and “her beloved audience” wept with her. While she sang mostly in French, she added a few obligatory English-language hits. At one point she belted out a cover of “All by Myself,” as if to proclaim “her desire never to be alone again.”

“Dion’s love affair with France spans decades,” said Sarah Leavitt in CBC.ca (Canada). It began in 1995, when she released D’Eux, the best-selling French-language album in history, featuring songs composed by cultural icon Jean-Jacques Goldman. She shares with the French a passion for haute couture, often wearing French designers like Dior and Givenchy. In 2024, she was chosen to cap the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics with her powerful rendition of Edith Piaf's “Hymne à l’amour” at the Eiffel Tower. So it’s no surprise that the City of Lights has been “electric” over her return. Her image is everywhere in Paris, gazing down from billboards, lit up on screens. Lyrics to her songs adorn subway walls and street posts. Tour operators offer Céline-themed boat rides on the Seine, and bars and restaurants host countless preshow and karaoke parties. Her appeal is so universal that every political party is

“eager to claim her legacy,” said Valentin Grimaud in Le Monde. The Right sees her as “a guardian of heritage, family values, motherhood, and merit,” as well as a savvy businesswoman. The Left celebrates her as “a foreign woman from a minority-language nation,” lionizing her for her progressive views, including her embrace of the LGBTQ+ community.

Yet staying above the fray is Dion's secret, said Thibaut Solano in Marianne. "At a time when political activists hunting in packs on social media demand that every influencer—every public figure—pick a side," there is "something reassuring about liking a singer simply because she sings." France needs this unity, said Céline Rohmer in La Croix. Usually when we pack together it is "to protest, raise a fist, shout our anger." Rarely do we come together to share an evening of pure joy. Here is a woman overcoming illness to share the gift of her voice. Cynics might roll their eyes at our tear-streaked faces, but they "cannot erase the fact: For a few hours, thousands of people feel intensely alive."

MONTENEGRO

---

Our horror is not your fashion set

Hatidza Gusic

Balkan Insight (Bosnia)

UNITED KINGDOM

How to

show your

independence

Tony Barber

Financial Times

A former concentration camp has become “a playground for luxury,” said Hatidza Gusic. The 19th-century fortress on Mamula Island just off Montenegro’s Adriatic coast has a long history, but “its legacy from World War II is what haunts it to this day.” Between 1942 and 1943, Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime imprisoned 2,000 people there, executing 80 and leaving dozens more to die of hunger. Now the fortress has been repurposed as “Mamula Island by Banyan Tree,” a luxury resort where rooms start at nearly \$500 a night. Last month, the site even hosted a fashion show, inviting “influencers, trendsetters, and other public figures” to watch models strut across the limestone floors on which

The Oxfordshire village of Piddington has declared itself an independent nation, said Tony Barber. Nearly every eligible voter in the tiny hamlet, population 350, supported a motion to secede from the United Kingdom in protest against a government plan to house 1,200 migrants at a nearby military base. A noble stunt, maybe, but they're going about it all wrong—they even celebrated by waving Union Jacks. "Any self-respecting micronation" must at least have its own flag. Take the Republic of Saugeais on the French-Swiss border: Founded in 1947, it is recognized by no country, "yet it has a flag, president, coat of arms, postage stamp, and people writhed and died. The very thought “seems grotesque.” Montenegro, hungry for tourism money, stands by its decision to sell the island to developers, noting that turning old prisons into hotels is a global trend. But Mamula “was not simply a prison.” It was a place of horror, where innocent civilians “including women and children” endured months of agony. While Singaporean-owned Banyan Tree has erected a mini-museum on the premises that includes survivors’ testimony, the gesture reads as an afterthought. Such a site should stand as “a physical reminder to not let history repeat itself,” not a setting for “wealthy jet-setters clinking champagne glasses.”

anthem." The Great Republic of Rough and Ready, which split from California for three heady months in 1850, staked out an identity by having only one church but seven saloons for its 3,000 people. Here in the U.K., when the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye pretended to fly solo, it managed its own passports, stamps, and currency, even if none of those were actually usable. As rocker Frank Zappa, hero to the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe, used to say: "You're not a real country unless you have a beer and an airline." If Piddingtonians want to be taken seriously, let's see some national emblems. "Come on, chaps, you can do better."

---

Noted

Nearly a third of the CDC's staff has been cut over the past 18 months, including $17\%$ of employees tasked with managing animal-to-human viruses like Ebola and hantavirus. Whole divisions at the agency have been shuttered, including teams that worked on smoking, sexual violence, and child abuse. The New York Times

Eight sailors aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln or ships in its strike group attempted suicide during the aircraft carrier's long deployment in the Iran war, according to acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao. One of the sailors went overboard and was rescued. With a crew of between 6,000 and 7,000 sailors, the Lincoln and its strike group spent more than 300 days at sea without a port call, a modern record. CNN.com

Despite co-hosting the World Cup, the U.S. saw international tourism slump this summer, putting the country on track to welcome 2 million fewer overseas visitors this year than in 2025. Visitor numbers from Canada have dropped 23% over the past two years, from Germany by 16%, and France 15%. “We’re the only major country in the world losing visitation,” said U.S. Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman. “It’s mind-boggling.”

Axios

■ Mentions of President Trump on conservative podcasts have fallen nearly 70% from their peak in the run-up to the 2024 election. Trump mentions on left-leaning podcasts have held steady over that same period.

The Wall Street Journal

---

Trump: A very warm welcome for China's Xi

President Trump “has accused China of hacking America’s elections and plundering its wealth,” said Peter Nicholas in NBCNews.com. But that didn’t stop him from showering Xi Jinping with “tributes and affection” during the Chinese president’s state visit last week. Trump personally greeted Xi on a 100-foot-long red carpet at Joint Base Andrews—the threatening and “undermining American interests on every front possible.” Xi’s regime is shipping arms and military supplies to Iran in defiance of U.S. sanctions and, according to American officials, provided Tehran with satellite images of an American base in Jordan “before an attack that killed three U.S. troops in July.” In recent months, China has also

'Never gotten along better'?

first time a U.S. president has met a foreign leader there since 1962. Xi “looks strong, vibrant, and fit,” Trump posted online. “Madam Xi, of course, BEAUTIFUL!” Over the next three days, Xi was treated to military flyovers, a tour of Trump’s new, all-stone White House helipad—Xi “loves good granite,” Trump explained—and a state dinner stuffed with tech billionaire attendees such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, SpaceX boss Elon Musk, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. “Pomp prevailed over progress,” said Amy Hawkins in The Guardian. Trump and Xi made no breakthroughs on AI safety, the wars in Iran and Ukraine, or other “thorny issues.” But they did agree to extend their trade truce by two months, and Xi promised to send two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta.

Toasting Xi at the state dinner, Trump claimed the U.S. and China have “never gotten along better,” said Jim Geraghty in National Review. He couldn’t be more wrong. The Chinese Communist Party is stolen F-35 stealth aircraft parts, presumably to help improve its own jets, and hacked numerous federal agencies. Yet Trump believes the U.S. and China are such great pals that he reportedly asked Xi “if he wanted to buy any American weapons.”

If only Trump treated our Pacific allies so well, said Jonathan Fritz in MS.now. There were no “bells or whistles” for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi when she visited the U.S. last week. And Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te hasn’t even been “allowed passage through” the U.S. since Trump returned to office. Unlike those democratically elected leaders, Xi is what Trump wants to be: an authoritarian, said Noah Berlatsky in Public Notice. So when Trump lauds Xi, “he feels like he’s praising himself.” Presidential diplomacy is supposed to advance U.S. interests. But for Trump, it’s about “standing on the world stage and feeling important,” regardless of whether the boots he’s licking are “kicking him and his country in the face.”

---

Latino voters: Will they decide the midterms?

Hispanic voters are “abandoning President Trump,” said Nate Cohn in The New York Times. Traditionally a Democratic bulwark, the group voted Republican in record numbers in the 2024 presidential election, prompting “talk of a political realignment.” But two years later, “that talk is over.” Trump’s approval rating among Hispanic voters is now below 30%, while polling averages show Democrats leading Republicans among Hispanics by 35 percentage points—64% to 29%—on a generic congressional ballot. “That would mark an extraordinary reversal since 2024,” when Kamala Harris led Trump among Hispanics by only 7 points in pollsters’ final surveys. If that trend holds through the midterms, GOP candidates would be imperiled in more than a dozen districts where “Trump won by double digits but where Republicans depend on support from Hispanic voters.” Texas and Florida could serve as “ground zero for a possible Democratic tsunami.”

Many Latinos feel betrayed by Trump, said Isadora Rangel in the Miami Herald. He got their support by promising to “end high prices”; now inflation is soaring and gas is near \$4.50 a gallon. Many even liked his pledge to remove undocumented migrants who, unlike them, didn’t come to the U.S. “the right way." But his mass deportation campaign has "hit too close to home," with ICE sweeping up Hispanic Americans in raids and law-abiding migrants—including the spouses of U.S. citizens—at immigration appointments and as they drop off their children at day care. "Some Republicans are taking notice." Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a former MAGA loyalist whose Miami-area district is majority Hispanic, released an ad last month criticizing Trump's immigration crackdown as having "gone too far."

Latinos are now “America’s biggest swing vote,” said Astead Herndon in Vox. They moved right after being taken for granted by Democrats, and then left when Republicans replicated that mistake. But that doesn’t mean Latinos are coming home to Democrats; “they’re just in motion.” Latino men could decide the midterms, said Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times. They swung harder than Latino women for Trump, who appealed to their sense of “rancho libertarianism”—that antiestablishment, family first, “bootstraps approach to life.” But “honor remains big among rancho libertarians, and no politician has insulted the Latino way of life more than Trump.” Flipping Congress would shrink his power. “Plus, it would be a perfect rebuke to a pendejo who fooled too many good Latino men.”

---

Politics: The rise of the Christian left

“For decades, conservative evangelicals have controlled the image of the politically active Christian,” said Jia Lynn Yang in The New York Times. The religious right turned tens of millions of Christians who rejected America’s “rapidly liberalizing culture” into a durable voting bloc, enabling Donald Trump’s rise and achieving “once-unthinkable” goals, such as overturning the right to abortion. But as Americans

Talarico: An alternative Christianity

version of Medicare for All." Jesus preached personal charity toward the poor and the sick, but he said nothing about universal health care, food stamps, or government redistribution of wealth. As he tries to win over right-leaning Texans, Talarico has also conveniently backed away from the "extremely woke" views he espoused a few years ago, including his claim that God is "nonbinary."

reject the Trump administration's “litany of moral outrages,” including mass deportation and the withdrawal of food aid and health care, a new coalition may be quietly emerging: the Christian left. The movement’s most prominent spokesman is James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian surging in the polls in his U.S. Senate race in Texas with rhetoric “drawn straight from the Gospels.” At least 12 pastors, seminarians, and former clergy have run for federal office as Democrats this year—a number “unheard-of in recent memory.” In many red states, these Christian Democrats are gaining ground with voters who see religion as “a moral compass rather than a political agenda.”

Talarico's progressivism is a “cheap misuse” of Christian teaching, said Rich Lowry in National Review. His rhetoric “waters down the Scriptures” to make it sound like God has endorsed “his

The Christian right created this opening, said Moira Donegan in The Guardian. Those hypocrites lost the moral high ground when they embraced the “ostentatious lasciviousness” of Trump and his Epstein-adjacent allies. In Trump’s GOP, “the preachers have retreated, and the perverts have taken over.” It’s no wonder Republicans are panicking, said Amanda Marcotte in Salon. Talarico represents “an existential threat to the Right’s longstanding myth that to be Christian must necessarily mean voting Republican.” The Democratic Party really is “a better fit for people who claim allegiance to Jesus Christ, who called on followers to feed the hungry and welcome the stranger.” One prominent Texas pastor recently preached that there can be only two types of Christians: Christian conservatives and conservative Christians. “They do not want their followers peeking behind door No. 3.”

---

Elections: Will states screen out legal voters?

“Election Day is fast approaching,” said Zachary B. Wolf in CNN.com, “but the Supreme Court is still weighing in” on the Trump administration’s attempts to control who votes and how. Last week, the six conservative justices voted to permit states to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to determine individual voter eligibility. In a March 2025 executive order, President Trump ordered that SAVE be revamped to include Social Security data so it could be used by states to screen out non-citizen voters—even though every study has found illegal voting to be “exceedingly rare.” The court’s ruling limits current enforcement “to only individualized voter inquiries rather than mass voter roll purges,” said Shirin Ali in Slate, because a 1993 law bars major procedural changes less than 90 days before an election. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent argued that the risk of “burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters” should rule out use of the SAVE system. Court conservatives, however, apparently trust GOP states to refrain from striking lots of voters off the rolls before or on Election Day. “Uh-oh.”

Time after time, purported “proof of widespread noncitizen voting” turns out to be a mirage, said

Nick Corasaniti in The New York Times. In July, the Department of Homeland Security announced the SAVE database revealed more than 270,000 noncitizens in four states' voter rolls, including nearly 16,000 in Nevada. Skeptical election officials in Carson City asked for details, and the DHS provided only 185 names of voters it claimed were noncitizens. But last week, in “a strongly worded rebuke,” the state affirmed that “every single person on the list was a lawful citizen.” Other state and local officials have identified major flaws in the SAVE database, and error rates in some locations run as high as 81%. Because the database includes outdated information, some naturalized citizens are flagged as ineligible “aliens.”

The court has handed Trump's GOP “another tool it can use to raise doubts about the integrity of the November elections,” said Mary Ellen Klas in Bloomberg. “A handful of rogue officials” who’ve bought Trump’s claim of widespread voting by illegal immigrants could ignore the 90-day limit, purge thousands of voters from the rolls, and dare the court to intervene. Or they could use the flawed SAVE database as an excuse to “refuse to certify the election” afterward. The table has been set for more “chaos and confusion.”

---

Wit & Wisdom

"Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal." Robert Heinlein, quoted in The Free Press

"The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated." James Baldwin, quoted in Vulture

"Whenever people ask for writing advice, I say, 'Fall in love with your Delete key.'" Barbara Kingsolver, quoted in The New Yorker

"If you ain't trying to cheat a little, you ain't likely to win much." Richard Petty, quoted in Business Blunders

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work." Gustave Flaubert, quoted in The Knowledge

"I like to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful, an idiot can run them—because sooner or later one will." Warren Buffett, quoted in The Wall Street Journal

"For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three." Alice Kahn, quoted in The Guardian (U.K.)

---

Poll Watch

■ 43% of Americans, including 65% of Democrats, now have a positive view of socialism. More adults ages 18 to 34 view socialism positively than they do capitalism (57% vs. 43%, respectively), while those ages 55 and older view capitalism more positively than they do socialism (65% vs. 34%). Just 35% of all adults view Big Business positively. Gallup

TINYVIEW.COM

“DO YOU MEAN ARMAGEDDON, THE END OF DEMOCRACY,

THE END OF BIPARTISANSHIP, THE END OF CHEAP GAS,

AN AI TAKEOVER...?”

---

Pick of the Week's Cartoons

For more political cartoons, visit: theweek.com/cartoons

---

Muse: A do-it-all AI assistant at your fingertips

Meta's Muse is “the most useful AI app I have ever used,” said Eli Tan in The New York Times. I’ve had it “perform dozens of day-to-day tasks,” from ordering my groceries to looking up recipes to “setting my fantasy football line-ups.” Last week, the AI agent “called my dental insurer” on my behalf, gave “it my member ID, answered a security question, and waited on hold before transferring me to the representative—just as I had asked it to.” It’s like having a personal assistant. “While the agent worked, I watched its movements through a tiny browser window, where it navigated websites like a human with a mouse and cursor." Muse wouldn't make a purchase without checking with me first, but to get the most out of it, I did give the AI agent access to "my bank accounts and apps like Google Docs, Gmail, Ticketmaster, OpenTable, and Google Sheets," which might be a bit too much personal information for some people.

Meta's AI agent will get its own hardware.

Muse's abilities to “browse the internet on your behalf” are “genuinely impressive,” said Reece Rogers in Wired, but this is also Meta we’re talking about. When I tried it, it was hard to avoid wondering if Muse was “more obsessed with collecting data about me” than actually helping me. The agent has a long-term memory that “stores details about your interactions and preferences.” The more I used it, every interaction “started to feel like

a guise for me to upload more data about myself" to Meta, which will soon debut an always-on palm-size "Charm" pendant loaded with Muse.

Agents are only as good as the services they can tap into, said Dave Lee in Bloomberg. Already, Amazon has blocked Muse “from accessing its store,” citing “security and data privacy.” But more likely it’s because “Amazon would much prefer people to use its AI shopping bot instead.” Other competitors will likely put up barriers, which kills the fun of having AI at your beck and call. “What good is a Google AI assistant if it can't buy things from Amazon or look up things on community groups on Facebook?"

Muse is still fun, said Michael Brendan Dougherty in National Review, and these “friendlier consumer forms of agentic AI” are a pleasant respite from all the doom and gloom we keep hearing from the frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic. Finally, it seems, AI has found a way to be useful. Maybe too useful, said Allison Johnson in The Verge. The “question we need to ask ourselves as we enter the era of AI agents is what we do with the time” we’re freeing up. Will we use it “to take on more commitments?” Or will we let our chatbots sit on hold with the insurance company while we go outside for a stroll or a hike?

---

Innovation of the week

Google's new AI-powered feature "turns photos of your outfit into a virtual closet," said Sarah Perez in TechCrunch. Google Photos Wardrobe can automatically identify what

clothes you are wearing in photos and organize them into a digital “copy of your wardrobe” so you can mix and match items virtually to create different outfits.

It will filter items by category, such as “tops” or “jewelry,” to make searching for items you might have worn months ago a breeze. If you’re willing to upload a full-body image, the app will let you try outfits on a digital version of yourself. And Google said wardrobe data “is not being shared with third parties, like retailers.” The concept is “seemingly inspired by Cher’s iconic virtual wardrobe app” from the 1995 movie Clueless.

---

Bytes: What's new in tech

Drone chaos in Texas

In Richardson, Texas, it's “raining boxes,” said Juliet Macur in The New York Times. After gaining approval from both the FAA and city officials, Amazon began delivering packages by drone this year as part of its Prime Air program, which promises to send customers items in as little as 30 minutes (for up to \$4.99). But in Richardson, near a large distribution center, any “joy about the innovation has been muted by the sound of dozens of drones,” which, as one resident points out, can be heard from inside their homes “even with the television on.” Deliveries “seem to pick up” especially on weekends. Plus, packages are released from the sky “with all the care of a bouncer tossing a rabble-rouser from a bar.” This is the type of service Amazon plans to bring to 500 more towns and cities across the U.S.

---

■ FBI data stolen by hacking group

A prolific hacking group claims it breached several FBI-related services and obtained information on current and prospective employees, said Joseph Cox in 404 Media. The hackers, who call themselves ShinyHunters, say the stolen material includes names, home addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and other information on about 5,000 FBI employees. The group also defaced an FBI jobs platform, saying the site “has been seized." One ShinyHunters member insisted the group's motivation was not financial and that the plan is "not something I'd call extortion, maybe coercion." If the group is telling the truth about the hack, the data breach could have "all sorts of national security and counterintelligence implications," were the stolen information to fall into the hands of foreign intelligence agencies or criminal organizations. The FBI is investigating the claims.

---

- Dyson's toothbrush flop

Dyson's tech-driven effort to “reinvent the electric toothbrush” seems to be coming undone, said Jeremy White in Wired. After “six years, 38 patents, and an awful lot of money,” Dyson launched a \$499 toothbrush in early September. The device is equipped “with a tiny camera to aim streams of rinsing fluid into the gaps between your teeth,” which is meant to let you essentially floss while you brush. “Having had considerable success reimagining established product categories such as stick vacuums and hair dryers,” there was a lot of fanfare around Dyson’s new toothbrush. But within days, reports surfaced from buyers complaining of water seeping into the battery compartment “and failures within 30 seconds of use.” Dyson attributes the issue to “a single component affecting a small number of early batches.”

---

Making a mouse with a human cortex

Researchers have created mice whose brains are partly human, reports NPR.org. Drugs for psychiatric conditions fail in clinical trials at high rates partly because we can't test them adequately in animals, which don't get human brain disorders. To get around that problem, neuroscientist Sergiu Paşca genetically engineered mice to grow almost no cerebral cortex, the part of the brain governing memory and thinking. Into the fluid-filled void, his research team at Stanford University placed organoids: clumps of brain tissue grown in a lab from human skin cells. The transplants thrived, swelling to as many as 4 million human neurons and wiring

Boom: Debris flew for miles.

---

A warning shot for moon bases

At some point in the spring of 2024, a space rock some 50 feet wide smashed into the moon with the explosive force of 15,500 tons of TNT. Now NASA scientists are studying the impact crater it left behind, reports The New York Times. The giant hole is 728 feet across, wide enough to hold two football fields end to end with room to spare. The basin, named McGetchin crater, is the largest fresh impact site spotted on the lunar surface since at least 2009, and it has sobering implications for future human habitation. Within the next decade, the U.S. plans to set up a crewed base near the moon's south pole, consisting of multiple structures including habitations and solar arrays. While scientists estimate that asteroid strikes this large should happen only once about every 132 years, much smaller impacts could still pose a huge problem. The moon is exposed to space rocks of every size, and because it has no atmosphere to burn them up before they land, any rock can damage a structure. Nor would a base need to take a direct hit: Debris flung from the new crater streaked outward for more than 60 miles. "This is a significant risk to long-term operations on the moon," says physicist Mark Boslough of the University of New Mexico. "The risk from smaller stuff is very real."

themselves into the mouse's brain and spinal cord. Some even developed into cell types that turn up in primates but never in mice. Researchers hope these new, “xenocortical” mice can be used to study brain disorders such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and even autism and dementia. For example: Unlike ordinary mouse pups but like human babies, the hybrid mice suffer motor function disorder when starved of oxygen at birth, resulting in symptoms of cerebral palsy. Paşca is mindful of the ethical concerns his work raises, and last year he convened a symposium of 70 scientists, ethicists, patient advocates, journalists, and policymakers to discuss the need for oversight.

---

Gen Xers still throwing down

Most Americans are finally easing off the booze—but not those in their 50s and early 60s. Following a pandemic-era spike, both overall drinking and heavy drinking fell among Americans in general between 2022 and 2024, according to surveys of more than 114,000 U.S. adults. Gen Zers, ages 18 to 29, showed the steepest drop in any alcohol use, while heavy drinking among Millennials fell 17%. But the picture for 50-to-64-year-olds was grim: Their rate of heavy drinking actually climbed, shooting up more than 36% from 2018 to 2024. That’s worrying, because alcohol-related cirrhosis is most often diagnosed in people’s 50s, when the liver is less resilient than it is in youth. Lead author Brian Lee, a liver transplant specialist at Keck Medicine of USC, tells CNN.com that the sober-curious movement, rising awareness of alcohol’s harms, and a switch to cannabis may be curbing younger adults’ intake. Older adults, meanwhile, may not realize that just over one drink a day counts as heavy drinking for women. “This is a generation that really learned to drink,” says Lee, “when a few drinks a night was just what adults did.”

---

Not just a kitten

Around 2016, a Bolivian man found what he took to be a lost kitten by the side of a road, carried it home, and treated it as a house cat. After less than a year he realized his pet might actually be a wild animal, and he handed it over to a wildlife sanctuary. It turns out he'd been raising a cat that had been unknown to science, the first entirely new feline species described since 1923. Biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz noticed that the male kitty, nicknamed Tigrino, resembled a northern tiger

The human bits are green and red.

For patients, he said, the research could be lifesaving, because it can “provide us access to aspects of human brain function that would be very difficult to study otherwise.”

---

Prenatal infections and autism

Babies infected with certain viruses or parasites before birth may face a higher risk of autism and intellectual disability, reports The Times (U.K.). Researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute examined records covering 3.7 million Swedes born from 1987 to 2021 and found 975 who had been diagnosed with a congenital infection, meaning one that crossed from mother to fetus, such as rubella, herpes, syphilis, or toxoplasmosis. Compared with other children, those infected in the womb were about three times as likely to be diagnosed with autism and seven times as likely to have an intellectual disability. The links held when affected children were compared with their uninfected siblings, suggesting that they can't be explained by genes. The authors say the findings strengthen the argument for vaccination and other measures that stop infections from reaching the fetus. Still, the study can't prove cause and effect, and congenital cases occur in only about 2.5 of every 10,000 births. "It is important to emphasize," says co-author Reneé Gardner, "that it is unusual for these infections to be transmitted from mother to child."

L. tilcayo

cat but didn't quite match: It was too small, its spots were too big, and its tail looked wrong.

Now the DNA has been sequenced, and genetic tests proved her right. Leopardus tilcayo,

named after the local word for the species, weighs just 3 to 4 pounds and lives in the Yungas, the cloud forest where the Andes slope down into the Amazon. "Sometimes we think that most of it is known,

that there's not a whole lot to discover," Nogales-Ascarrunz tells National Geographic. "In fact, it's the other way around."

---

[Review of Reviews: Books] Book of the week

An Unexpected Life: A Memoir by Gloria Steinem (Random House, \$30)

"An Unexpected Life is filled with lines that now feel prophetic," said Scaachi Koul in Slate. When the feminist activist and icon died at 92 in early September, her newest memoir was three weeks from publication, making it all the more poignant when a reader comes across lines such as "Being remembered with love is the best form of immortality." Steinem was, she wrote here, still working on the causes she believed in and expecting to live to 100. But she was also aware she had an obligation, as a leader running short on time, to remind younger allies of progress made in her lifetime, including in the opening of countless professions to women and in making domestic violence far less invisible. At its best, An Unexpected Life "reads as a nudge to younger generations to keep up the good fight, to notice the wins where they happen, and to not get discouraged."

"The striking thing about An Unexpected Life is how bland it is," said Meghan Cox

Steinem at home in 1990: A mostly happy warrior

---

Novel of the week

Gurdon in The Wall Street Journal. Steinem didn't lack for good material. As a journalist in her 20s, she went undercover as a Playboy bunny and trailed the Beatles on their first U.S. tour. She also ran a youth group funded by the CIA in the years before she co-founded Ms. magazine in 1971. "In her heyday, Steinem had zip," authoring such memorable lines as "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." But here

---

Switzy

by Emma Cline (Random House, \$32)

Many readers “will be nearly flattened by this novel,” said Hillary Kelly in The Atlantic. A “gut-twisting” work from the best-selling author of The Girls and The Guest, it immerses us in the running thoughts of David Hastings, an American with Alzheimer’s who, after a long corporate career, is traveling to Switzerland to end his life in an assisted-suicide clinic. Because death’s inevitability is rarely confronted so directly, the sustained attention Emma Cline gives the topic is “practically subversive—a thrill, really.” And as David stops en route, in London and France, to visit his only child and then a former boarding-school roommate, Cline “employs a kind of abbreviated modernism” to capture her protagonist’s jumbled consciousness. Though the novel “can read like a puzzle,” said Emma Alpern in NYMag.com, “it’s rarely clever or cutesy.” Instead, Switzy is “Cline’s big swing,” a bid to net awards after two significant hits. She continues here to resist neat narrative arcs, and in this case, “her impulse to write in loops,” circling subjects and emotions, “works in her favor.” David is, after all, a man nearing death who’s “realizing, with shame, how little human contact he’s actually had.”

Roll the Calls: A Memoir by Ari Emanuel (Knopf, \$35)

"I don't know why Ari Emanuel wrote a memoir, even after reading it," said Sam Wasson in Air Mail. Yes, Emanuel is a powerful Hollywood agent who's so famously explosive that he inspired Entourage's Ari Gold. He'd also

seem to have great stories to share. But there are few such tales in this instant best seller, either because Emanuel doesn't know what he's fighting for or because his business is now more about mergers than deals that get movies made. Written in “a punchy, give-'em-hell style that strains to evoke Robert Evans' classic The Kid Stays in the Picture,” Roll the Calls is “relentless and fun,” but “self-consciously so”—the kind of book that thinks there's more power in the words “F--- you” when the phrase is broken into two paragraphs.

Emanuel spends much of the book “trying to justify his unrelenting rage and appetite for revenge,” said Maxwell Adler in

she smothers even potentially great anecdotes with bromides. After recalling how she was once bitten by a rat during her Ohio childhood and had to hitchhike to a hospital in the middle of the night, she counsels readers not to let rats remain “unseen,” writing: “If we share our experiences, we begin to discover that we are not alone.”

In the book's first half, at least, “one is reminded of the improbability of her journey,” said Emma Brockes in The Guardian. “Raised on instability,” Steinem grew up “remarkably free” from the constraints placed on so many other women, and once she assumed the role of an activist, she was “the real thing,” in it for neither the attention nor the money. She shares that she saved so little well into mid-

life that she worried she'd one day be sleeping in the New York City subway—and jokes that she'd have taken up organizing the other bag ladies. For much of her life, though, she “had a very clear idea of what she was supposed to be doing,” and “my God she did it right to the end.” She mentions at one point having jeans older than many people she was working with. “We should all be so lucky; what a life.”

Vanity Fair. He traces his anger back to childhood, when he was a bullied suburban Chicago special ed student whose dyslexia prevented him from keeping up with older brothers Zeke, now a prominent scientist, and Rahm, a current Democratic presidential hopeful. Ari credits his appetite for battle with the success he's since achieved in a career that hadn't even peaked when, in 2024, the agency he co-founded was valued at \$13 billion. Fittingly, he also now runs a sports and entertainment conglomerate that owns both the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

“Roll the Calls is being sold as a Hollywood insider’s tell-all,” said Tim Robey in The Telegraph (U.K.). Problem is, Emanuel’s still working on his clients’ behalf, so while he freely ridicules rival agents and certain rival industry titans, “we hear nothing about the challenges of representing Mark Wahlberg or Oprah Winfrey or Donald Trump.” Judging from Emanuel’s memoir, “nothing sticks in his memory better than who got the upper hand during boardroom merger negotiations (usually himself) or who swore the most (himself).” Still, I’ll concede he’s a bit scary. “The very idea of him reading this lightly negative review brings a cold sweat to the back of my neck.”

---

Best books...chosen by Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the Botswana-set No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, whose 27 books have sold more than 40 million copies. In the latest, The Big Cats Dance Party, a high-profile case falls to a novice sleuth while the agency's founder is away.

A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander (1977). Alexander was a visionary professor of architecture at Berkeley. Here, he and several colleagues set out the principles of sympathetic design as an antidote to the brutalism of the late 20th century. You can use this book if you are designing a city, a building, or just arranging the furniture in a room or the shrubs in your garden.

Collected Shorter Poems, 1927-1957 by W.H. Auden (1966). I never tire of Auden's poems, especially "In Praise of Limestone" and the lovely, haunting "The More Loving One." Auden remains as relevant in our troubled times as he was in his heyday. And he brings the same consolation with his wise, humane words.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1961). “My pupils,” said Miss Brodie, “are the crème de la crème.” Beware of a teacher who says that sort of thing. Jean Brodie was a fascist, one of her charges eventually says, and she was. Spark, a writer of the first rank, brought her beautifully to life in this moving, rather sad novel of Edinburgh in the 1930s.

The Sword of Honour Trilogy by Evelyn Waugh (1952–61). This trilogy is in my view Waugh's masterpiece. It tells the story of Guy Crouchback and his experiences in the Second World War. Waugh was a magnificent writer, and his prose has a rare gravity and balance. Here he tells a poignant story, but one that has moments of memorable humor. Apthrop, an important character, is Waugh's greatest comic creation.

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (1952). Pym was another Jane Austen. Her small-scale novels are full of witty observations. She focuses on the lives of people living on the margins of other, larger lives. Excellent Women is one of her best novels, a little gem.

The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre (2018). Macintyre's book about Oleg Gordievsky is quite simply the most exciting book I have ever read. Gordievsky, a high-ranking KGB officer, passed on information to the West for years. The story of his exfiltration from Moscow is utterly engrossing. Gordievsky probably saved us from nuclear annihilation.

---

Also of interest...in music legends

Is This It

by Steven Hyden (Da Capo, \$30)

"The basic story at the heart of Is This It is a simple one," said Peter C. Baker in The New York Times. In the early 2000s, the Strokes were heralded as rock's saviors but then failed to match the promise of their

debut album. Steven Hyden, a fan, uses the band's story to explore bigger questions, such as why bands have faded in cultural importance, and his answers are “mostly convincing and mostly interesting to chew on.” More than anything, though, Hyden’s book is fun.

---

Coltrane

by Ravi Coltrane et al. (Ten Speed Press, \$60)

This new coffee-table book is “the most in-depth photographic study to date regarding who John Coltrane was at work and at home,” said A.D. Amorosi in Jazz Times. Its 300 pages include 200 evocative photos of the legendary saxophonist, whose centennial just passed. Still, “it is the words of those who love and appreciate Coltrane that take this book’s intensity further.” The essay contributed by Patti Smith “cuts like a machete” to the heart of his work.

---

Birth of a Culture

by Grandmaster Flash (Amistad, \$30)

“Like all of hip-hop’s early heroes, Grandmaster Flash is fixated on the genre’s history,” said Vinson Cunningham in The New Yorker. In his new book, you’ll hear the pioneering DJ “fighting a headwind of

faulty tellings over the years,” yet “he is careful not to make his accomplishments, or hip-hop itself, sound like the product of a solitary genius.” Instead, his winning anecdotes about 1970s New York “illustrate the communal nature of the beginnings of the music and the culture.”

Rock\* by Chuck Klosterman (Da Capo, \$32)

What if the Beatles were mere cult favorites and the Velvet Underground the world's biggest band? That's the premise of Chuck Klosterman's new alternate history of pop, said David Kirby in The Wall Street Journal, and

on page after page, the best-selling author “delivers just enough fact to make this fiction seem plausible.” As Klosterman’s inventions multiply, “readers will either buy into this madness or not.” But his writing is often “addictively engaging” in this “lopsided hymn” to music’s power.

---

[Author of the week] Lucy Foley

No one could say that Lucy Foley didn't have fun writing the first authorized Miss Marple mystery in half a century, said Clare Mulroy in USA Today. When Agatha Christie's family asked Foley if she'd like to take the project on, the seasoned British thriller writer panicked after saying yes, then plunged in headlong. "I went quite method for it, actually," she

says. Not only did she read each of the 14 existing Marple books about four times. She also read scores

of other Christie novels and, once she decided to set her story in the 1950s, devoured many manly 1950s detective novels, watched solely 1950s movies, and listened to moody Miles Davis music every time she sat down to write. Never, though, did she lose sight of her top priority. “The book geek in me,” she says, “really wanted my Marple to be the Marple of the books.”

Early on, Foley decided she couldn't give Marple the role of narrator, said Chris Hewitt in The Minnesota Star Tribune. "That was a step too far," Foley says of Christie's spinster sleuth. "She's kind of wonderfully unknowable and complex and difficult to pin down." Foley's Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel is instead narrated by several characters Marple encounters during a holiday in the Swiss Alps that gives her a new case to crack. "Marple is such a gift of a character," Foley says, praising the quiet villager's dry wit and "wonderfully dark, complex understanding of human nature." Marple is also, in Foley's view, nearly timeless. "It boggles me that Christie created this character when she did," she says. "It must have been so audacious for the time, and it still feels radical now: this elderly woman who uses her invisibility as a sort of superpower."

---

[Review of Reviews: Art & Music | Exhibit of the week] Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Feb. 28

The very title of this show might make some viewers uneasy, said Melik Kaylan in The Wall Street Journal. “If you admire the sheer beauty of the works on view, does it mean that you are guilty of possessing a ‘Western gaze?’” Ever since the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism, in 1978, Western art that depicts or borrows from any Islamic culture has been burdened by the accusation that it enacts an othering of large swaths of the world to justify cultural imperialism. So “kudos to the Met” for mounting an exhibition that suggests the West’s 19th-century fascination with the so-called Near East was not purely predatory. The show, which gathers paintings, textiles, furniture, and decorative objects created in the century after Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt, “has the effect of restoring the primacy of aesthetics over politics when looking at gorgeous art.”

Rather than rejecting Said's critique outright, the Met "adds nuance" to the story, said Ariella Budick in the Financial Times. When the West became fascinated with Islamic art and design, the interest was sincere and helped revive ancient crafts in the lands that gave them birth. Soon, the borrowing of visual motifs was flowing in both directions, and “the result was a hybrid language that spanned both worlds.” In this “resplendent” exhibition, “the most persuasive challenge to narrow theories of

Gérôme's 'Bashi-Bazouk' (1868–69)

Orientalism comes in the work of Osman Hamdi Bey," a painter born in Constantinople and trained in Paris. His depictions of the Ottoman world show "an insider's understanding," but they also illustrate a rich cross-cultural pollination. In At the Mosque Door (1891), a scene that "hums with urban energy," more than a dozen people cross paths outside a Turkish mosque, including several women who "accessorize their Ottoman garb" with Western-style parasols and bustles.

The show “sparks to life” when it sets Hamdi’s work against that of his more celebrated older friend, Jean-Léon Gérôme, said Zachary Fine in The New Yorker. Said chose to use Gérôme’s The Snake Charmer (1879) on the cover of his book, making the French painter an avatar of Orientalism. But dismissing Gérôme as visually uninteresting, as impressionism’s advocates have done for 150 years, is “a serious miscalculation.” Whereas much of Hamdi’s work

“can be cloying and dull,” Gérôme’s frequently dazzles. Consider Bashi-Bazouk, a deeply respectful 1868–69 portrait of a young Black man who is presented as being a member of a wing of the Ottoman army reputed to be unusually violent. From his “salmon-pink” tunic to “the cherrylike tip of his headdress,” every detail appears to have been chosen “for pure visual stimulation.” Sure, it’s Orientalism, but “is there any other bad idea that has produced so many beautiful things?”

Miley

Bass Persuades

★★★★

At 33, Miley Cyrus is “still finding her way forward,” said Larisha Paul in Rolling Stone. On her latest No. 1 album, the former teen star attempts a couple of club tracks like the hits she used to

Beck

Ride Lonesome

★★★★

Beck's first album in seven years is "cut from the same cloth" as two of his most acclaimed efforts, said Fred Thomas in AllMusic. Like 2002's Sea Change and 2014's Morning Phase, an album

make, but it's clear she "has no use for flash and spectacle" and would rather just talk about her fiancé, musician and producer Maxx Morando. While the dance-oriented "Bass Persuades" proves to be "a rambling lead single with little to say," Miley—if we use the mononym she now prefers—sounds fully committed on the "aching" ballad "Orbit," the lighthearted "Let's Get Married," and the record's other tributes to romantic devotion. For this restless star, it's "an unusually focused set," said Mark Richardson in The Wall Street Journal. Over the years, Miley has achieved "highly mixed results" by "zigzagging among '80s rock, folk-pop, dream-pop, and R&B." Here, she limits herself to electronic pop, but after opening with three "decent-to-good" tracks, "almost everything that follows is forgettable." Too often, the others "fall into an in-between space." They are "not rhythmically interesting enough to make you want to move and don't have the tunes to stand up as pop."

of the year winner, Ride Lonesome “glows with a beautiful, lush sadness,” creating “an atmosphere of deep, almost wounded introspection.” Recorded with the same producer and musicians Beck enlisted for those earlier records, this album’s 12 tracks rely almost wholly on acoustic instrumentation as they amble forward slowly, starting with a title track that’s “dusted with gorgeous wisps of pedal steel guitar.” But while Sea Change conveyed the raw despair Beck was feeling after a breakup, this album feels like an echo that treats melancholy as if it’s a genre. Fortunately, Ride Lonesome “never feels like a pale imitation,” said Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. Perhaps Beck, at 56 and no longer married, is simply experiencing “a very mid-50s kind of malaise.” In any case, he’s provided new evidence that his best music is “born out of misery.” Credit his level of craft. “Everything here is melodically exquisite; every song has the requisite emotional impact.”

Langley

---

'Choosin' Texas' stands alone

"It's lonesome, it's twangy, it's catchy as all get-out," said Stephen Thompson in NPR.com. It's Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas," the song that's now been the No. 1 single in the U.S. for more

weeks than any other in history. Langley's "relatable" lament about losing a guy to a stranger set the record on Sept. 22 with its 23rd week on top, then added a 24th. The tune's staying power owes in part to the tendency of today's listeners and streaming services to put favored songs on repeat, which also helps explain why country tunes have lately filled the top of Billboard's singles chart. Langley's hold on the all-time record "could well be brief," because her tune's current run might be halted soon and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," the song Langley's usurped, is likely to return to the charts in December and add to its 22 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1. Still, Langley's achievement is huge, said Kyle Coroneos in Saving Country Music. The 27-year-old wrote an authentic country song, and listeners fittingly embraced it. "In a moment when everything feels fake, 'Choosin' Texas' is something real."

---

Review of Reviews: Film & Stage

Digger

Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (R)

★★★★★

An oil tycoon unleashes a climate disaster.

---

The History of Concrete

Directed by John Wilson (Not rated)

★★★★

A documentarian explores the worlds we build.

"It'd be a mistake to judge Digger by the standards of a normal film," said Amy Nicholson in the Los Angeles Times. Alejandro G. Iñárritu's over-the-top new satire, featuring Tom Cruise in "his riskiest role in eons," offers viewers no hope, "only a seductive, mischievous malevolence that, by design, feels empty as soon as the end credits roll." But maybe

Cruise's Digger, in all his awful glory

that's intended, because the subject is climate collapse and the Oscar-winning director of Birdman and The Revenant doesn't seem to think there's any way to avoid the catastrophe. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a greedy oil baron who has unleashed an environmental disaster, and Cruise is so committed to the villainous role, "we can't take our eyes off him," said Bilge Ebiri in NYMag.com. Unfortunately,

Fans of How To With John Wilson, the acclaimed 2020–23 TV docuseries, will be pleased that Wilson's big-screen debut is "essentially a 100-minute version of an episode," said Adrian Horton in The Guardian. Consistently compelling, surprising, and "laugh-out-loud funny," The History of Concrete follows the documentarian as he again takes a mundane subject and uses it

to spin out intriguing detours, memorable visual jokes, and insightful ruminations about the human condition. Yes, Wilson's “casual, ambling” film provides a lot of information about concrete—possibly the most-used human-made substance on the planet, said Stephanie Zacharek in Time. Mostly, though, “it will show you how Wilson’s mind works, how it jumps from one seemingly random thought to

Concrete is only the beginning.

“the only other actor besides Cruise I enjoyed watching was Riz Ahmed,” in the role of a science consultant to Digger. The rest is so aggravating that “it’s like being trapped inside a tuba for two hours.” Here’s the thing, though: Except for a major twist that backfires, “the movie knows what it’s doing.” It’s meant to horrify. I found it “rage-inducing” for a different

reason, said Johnny Oleksinski in the New York Post. Cruise and Iñárritu think they’ve made an urgent film but are “blinded to their baby’s badness” by their egos. Despite having “all the makings of a prestige hit,” Digger “lacks a single funny joke or even half-believable moment.” At least it’s likely to vanish quickly. “Nobody will be debating this movie. It’s not worth the time.”

the next and miraculously connects them." Wilson's curiosity takes him to some far-off places, including Rome, but the best segments grow out of his encounters with fellow New York City-area eccentrics, including an aging musician he befriends and helps guide through personal loss. In truth, much of this "weird, fun" film is about the difficulty of securing financ-

ing to make a documentary, “especially if it’s about concrete,” said Alissa Wilkinson in The New York Times. But because Wilson’s wanderings eventually lead to a poignant conclusion that ties all the loose threads together, “you’re left wondering how a movie about concrete could leave a lump in your throat.” Of course, “that’s how Wilson works, making us see what we might not have otherwise.”

---

School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play

The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, New York City ★★★★

When it premiered off-Broadway in 2017, Jocelyn Bioh's comedy was "fresh, savvy, and funny," said Sara Holdren in NYMag.com. Almost a decade later, "it's lost none of that," but the play's Broadway debut "adds sharpness to its cruelties and weight to its grief." The setting is an all-girls high school in 1986 Ghana, where Paulina, the queen bee in a group of mean girls, is anticipating being chosen to compete in the Miss Ghana beauty pageant before Ericka, a transfer student from the U.S., arrives as troubling new competition. The Gilded Age's Denée Benton "tosses the darts of Paulina's vindictiveness with bull's-eye accuracy," but as her character becomes unglued, "it's her softer, sadder moments that cement the performance."

Top to bottom, “the Broadway cast is

Pageant time for Benton

extraordinary," said Helen Shaw in The New York Times. Yet "first among equals" is Boop! breakout Jasmine Amy Rogers as Ericka, whose light skin unnerves her rival because Paulina fears that her own darker skin will cause the pageant recruiter to pass her over. The two girls eventually duke it out in a Whitney Houston solo battle in a scene that was fun enough off-Broadway. When Benton and Rogers go at it, “the roof lifts off.” Unfortunately, the play ends too abruptly. “After spending only 85 delicious minutes with the mean girls,” we’re “pushed out onto the sidewalk.”

Though “the transition from broad ensemble comedy to issue play is not seamless,” said Adam Feldman in Time Out New York, it remains a pleasure passing the time that we get with Bioh’s “flawed, fractious, but ultimately endearing” teenagers. School Girls has already been staged in more than 75 theaters around the U.S., said Juan A. Ramírez in The Guardian, and “it’s easy to see” why it’s so beloved. It’s a comedy that tackles complex issues, and it’s enlivened by “richly detailed” characters and “an onslaught of delicious barbs.”

---

[Streaming tips | Family-friendly animated features] Coyote vs. Acme

Long live Looney Tunes. After years of getting obliterated by Acme's faulty mail-order contraptions, Wile E. Coyote hires a personal injury lawyer and takes the corporation to court in this fun and funny feature. \$25 on demand

---

Toy Story 5

Woody, Buzz, and the rest of Bonnie's toys reunite to take on a formidable foe—a digital tablet called Lilypad that sucks Bonnie into a deadening screen life. The smart story proves Pixar's longest-running franchise still has some juice. Disney+

---

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender

After two live-action spin-offs, including a disappointing one from M. Night Shyamalan, the beloved Nickelodeon animated series of the same name spun off this dazzling feature this summer. It follows Aang and his element-controlling friends on a quest for an ancient artifact. Paramount+

---

Minions & Monsters

The latest movie featuring the pill-shaped chaos agents of the Despicable Me franchise is easily the best. A heartfelt love letter to cinema that embeds clever references dating to the silent-movie era, it should win over even the most minion-averse. \$10 on demand

---

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom

A new installment of the great stop-motion franchise finds the intrepid Shaun developing a quick-grow potion for pumpkins. When the Farmer applies it to his bald pate, it works so well that he's mistaken for a bigfoot. \$20 on demand

---

PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie

Chase, Marshall, and the rest of PAW Patrol's heroic pups travel from Adventure Bay to an island inhabited by a stranded dog and an array of dinosaurs. The villainous Mayor Humdinger is there, too, enacting a scheme that triggers a volcanic eruption. \$25 on demand

The Week's guide to what's worth watching

---

Small Prophets

This warmly funny British import is unlike any other series on TV. Pearce Quigley stars as an affable eccentric who, while leading a quiet, suburban existence, yearns for answers about his missing girlfriend, who vanished several years earlier. To that end, he uses a recipe with roots in medieval alchemy to hatch a handful of homunculi—strange, miniature creatures said to be able to tell the future. He just has to keep them secret until they mature. Wednesday, Oct. 7, Apple TV

---

Who Is Martin Mull?

Your answer may depend on your age. Boomers may remember Mull from the 1970s soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and his droll musical comedy act. Gen Xers know him from the movie Mr. Mom and TV's Roseanne. Mull saw himself as a painter, and he was a pretty good one. This documentary, co-directed by the late Bob Saget, explores Mull's many facets. Wednesday, Oct. 7, Netflix

---

Below

A sea creature wreaks havoc on a tight-knit coastal community in this new series set in moody Newfoundland. Josh Hartnett leads the fine cast, playing a fisherman who's newly haunted by memories of his father's strange death at sea when the waters he's known become unpredictable, even carrying in a giant iceberg. Stranger Things' Charlie Heaton and Station Eleven's Mackenzie Davis co-star, Thursday, Oct. 8, Netflix

---

Cupertino

Remember the network legal drama? The creators of The Good Wife are back to remind you that the formula still works. This new series from Robert and Michelle King throws open the doors of an upstart Silicon Valley law firm whose mission is defending the little people wronged by the tech elite. Mike Colter, Rachel Keller, Ella Stiller, and Busy Philipps co-star. Thursday, Oct. 8, at 10 p.m., CBS

Howell: A Carrie for our time

'Animals': Washington and Affleck under duress

---

Animals

Triple threat Ben Affleck is doing it again, co-writing, directing, and starring in this dark thriller about a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles whose life and campaign are upended when his son is abducted and a ransom demanded. He and his wife, played by Kerry Washington, are forced to make hard choices, revealing deep secrets that could unravel everything they've built. With Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun. Friday, Oct. 9, Netflix

---

[Other highlights] Abbott Elementary

Abbott Elementary endures. Having survived a bum furnace, a temporary move to an old mall, and an attempted shutdown, Quinta Brunson's Janine and the rest of the staff return for a sixth season. Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 8:30 p.m., ABC

---

Matchbox the Movie

John Cena and Jessica Biel co-star in an action-comedy feature that takes inspiration from Mattel's die-cast toy cars. Friday, Oct. 9, Apple TV

---

Treasure Island

David Oyelowo stars as the pirate Long John Silver in a series adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel. With Hayley Atwell and Jack Huston. Sunday, Oct. 11, MGM+

---

[Show of the week] Carrie

No tale of a bullying victim taking revenge is more terrifying than Stephen King's Carrie. The 1976 film adaptation, meanwhile, remains a standout from a decade rich in horror classics. That didn't scare Mike Flanagan, creator of The Haunting of Hill House, who's now made an of-the-moment series adaptation worthy of its forbears. Summer H. Howell is a powder keg as Carrie White, a homeschooled teen who's cruelly ridiculed for her awkwardness and naivete. Possessed of growing telekinetic powers, this Carrie becomes a terrifying force when rage lights the fuse. Wednesday, Oct. 7, Prime

---

Tiger soda bread: A marriage of science and spice

“No matter how thoroughly you mix dry ingredients like baking powder, baking soda, and salt, they never distribute perfectly in flour,” says Nik Sharma in Fundamentals of Flavor: 101 Recipes for the Science of Better Cooking (Chronicle Books). Mixing creates a “random scatter,” and I’ve embraced that unpredictability in the following take on Irish soda bread. When you’re mixing the dough and turmeric meets the inevitable clusters of alkaline baking soda, the turmeric transforms from its normal golden yellow to bright red. The result is “a loaf streaked with wild, fiery swirls of yellow and crimson.”

Beneath the craggy crust lie explosive colors.

To test if your turmeric if fresh enough before you start, mix a half teaspoon each of turmeric and baking soda, then add a few drops of water to form a paste. If it doesn't turn bright orange or red, your bread, though it'll taste just as good, won't be nearly as colorful.

When I'm serving this bread with soup, I like to add a half cup of sharp cheddar and three tablespoons of chopped chives to the dough.

---

Recipe of the week Tiger soda bread

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp fine sea salt

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground red pepper, such as Kashmiri chili powder (optional)

2 tbsp mixed spice seeds, such as cumin, fennel, sesame, and nigella

2 tbsp dried chives

$\frac{1}{2}$ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed $1\frac{1}{2}$ cups plain unsweetened buttermilk or kefir, plus extra as needed

For the spice-seed glaze:

2 tbsp melted ghee or unsalted butter

1 tbsp mixed spice seeds, such as cumin, fennel, sesame, and nigella Flaky salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large mixing bowl, dry-whisk flour, baking powder, fine salt, garlic powder, garam masala, turmeric, baking soda, red pepper (if using), spice seeds, and chives. Using a pastry cutter or fork, mix in butter to form pea-size pieces. Create a well in center of dough and stir in buttermilk with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Knead slightly to form a sticky dough (it won't be wet). If dough is very dry, add 1 to 2 tbsp buttermilk to help it come together. Move dough to a lightly floured surface and shape it into a large ball. Transfer dough to a baking sheet.

To make spice-seed glaze, in a small mixing bowl, combine melted ghee and spice seeds. Brush glaze all over top of dough. Sprinkle with flaky salt. Using a sharp knife, cut a shallow X in center of dough. Bake, rotating halfway through, until internal temperature reaches 200 degrees, 45 to 50 minutes. Top will be crisp and golden brown, and bread will be firm to touch.

Transfer bread to a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before eating. Serves 6 to 8. (The bread is best eaten within 2 to 3 days. Store at room temperature, cut side down on a wooden cutting board and covered with a towel.)

---

Farm stands across America: Five of the nation's best

No matter where you are, “farm-to-table treats beat grocery store finds and enhance autumnal weekend getaways,” said Laura Beausire in Food & Wine. We asked writers and other contributors around the country to pick their favorite farm stands. Here are five to seek out whether you’re looking for a day-trip destination or craving such autumn fare as apples, squash, and cider doughnuts.

---

Grandad's Apples

Hendersonville, N.C. On a stretch beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains known as "Apple Alley," this fourth-generation family stands sells 30-plus apple varieties from its own orchards. Don't miss the cider slushies. Kids will also love the corn maze

and tractor-pulled "cow train."

Grandad's: An all-ages attraction

Balsam Farms Amagansett, N.Y. This 23-year-old operation is “the Mercedes of Hamptons-area open-air farm stands” because the produce grown on its 200-acre farm is “some of the best in New York state.” The selection might include black Japanese eggplant or purple sprouting broccoli, and there’s even a selection of such hard-to-find Mexican botanicals as pipicha and pápalo.

Pezzini Farms Castroville, Calif. Castroville calls itself the artichoke capital of the world, and if you make the 20-mile drive north from Monterey, Pezzini Farms is the place to find artichokes year-round. An on-site food truck sells them fried, grilled, and stuffed into tacos.

Cure Organic Farm Stand Boulder This busy

open-air stand sits under a willow tree on a 15-acre family farm on Boulder's eastern outskirts, selling vegetables, flowers, herbs, and local dairy and meat products produced on site or by other local farmers.

Southall Farm & Inn Farm Stand Franklin, Tenn. An hour south of Nashville, this “picture-perfect farmstand” is “a luxury farm-to-table escape,” with two on-site restaurants, a plethora of seasonal produce, and an array of local specialties including bourbon-barrel-aged honey.

---

Wine: Campanian whites

"With many wine lovers gravitating toward lighter, lower-alcohol whites, Campania's offerings deserve more consideration," said Edward Deitch in Vinepair. The southern Italian region that's home to Mount Vesuvius leans on lesser-known grape varieties and local soil and climate conditions to pro-

duce “refreshing, textured, volcanic wines” that are also great values. 2023 Tenuta Scuotto Fiano di Avellino (\$20). Wines made from the fiano grape tend to be “complex and multilayered.” This one offers “aromas and flavors of peach, honey, and herbs, most notably a touch of mint.”

2024 Fattoria La Rivolta Coda di Volpe Taburno Sannio (\$21). In this coda di volpe, “flint and almond hints punctuate flavors of white peach, apricot, and vanilla.”

2024 Iovine Falanghina (\$18). An excellent expression of easy-drinking falanghina, this wine is “marked by its freshness, ripe fruit, and a slight spritz when first poured.”

---

This week's dream: Rediscovering pastoral Portugal

As I walk a trail through eastern Portugal's Cōa Valley, “a roe deer barks in alarm, lush ferns reach past my waist, and dozens of yellow butterflies lift and flutter,” said Ben Buckland in The New York Times. Though I’m only a few hours from Lisbon and Porto, “I feel as if I have somehow stepped out of the present, out of Portugal, even out of Europe, and into an enchanted, parallel world.” My goal over the next week is to hike as much of the 120-mile Cōa Valley Grand Route as I can, “try-

ing to understand the changes that are drawing both wildlife and people back to one of the country's most remote corners." After decades in which residents abandoned the region to seek opportunity elsewhere, members of younger generations are trickling back, including the couple who opened the village grocery store where I'd picked up a picnic meal featuring local bread and sweet tomatoes in olive oil.

The Grand Route follows the Côa River for 120 miles.

In stories told here, “wolves steal the children, leaving only their shoes.” As I set out from Moinho do Maneio, the first of my overnight lodgings, I’m hoping to see a wolf, a species proliferating amid the region’s rewilding, or even an Iberian lynx. That afternoon, I meet Albano Alavedra, an older farmer who offers me a beer and describes how the wolves he must protect his livestock from are actually good

shepherds of the land because they keep the wildlife in balance. Alavedra says his mother hoped he'd leave home to get a degree, but he loved the land too much. "Only those who really liked it stayed," he says.

In the 1990s, Portugal planned to flood the entire valley for a hydroelectric dam. But the discovery, along the riverbank, of 20,000-year-old rock engravings of ibex, horses, and aurochs stayed the deluge. At one of 80 paleolithic art sites in Côa Valley

Archaeological Park, I marveled at how some appear to be in movement, “like ancient animations.” My trail ends soon at an archaeology museum near where the Côa meets the Douro River. As I approach, “my hopes of seeing a lynx or a wolf fade, but I still look and listen for howls under the waning moon.”

■ At Moinho do Maneio (moinhodo maneio.pt), doubles start at \$147

Hotel of the week

A forest perch with true flair

---

Hårtwood Minden, Ontario

A weekend stay in a tree house shouldn't require giving up creature comforts, said Heather Greenwood Davis in Afar. At Hårtwood, a new guest property north of Toronto, three sleek contemporary cabins cradled by trees float above the forest floor, welcoming guests like me and my husband to unwind in style. We spent our mornings in the sunlit living room, "taking in panoramic forest views," then filled our days hiking and exploring nearby towns. "By evening, we were back inside with music playing, wine in hand, and maple trees filling the windows." Using a smartly curated meal kit, we cooked a cod dinner over our outdoor fire.

forttrehouseco.com; from \$421

---

Getting the flavor of...

New England foliage, state by state

New England's leaf-peeping season is “easy to overthink,” said Ken Mahan in The Boston Globe. People get hung up on finding the brightest hillsides to snap, but just as important are “the back roads you didn’t plan to take, the little towns you stumble into, and the people you meet.” Through Oct. 10, “Vermont is tough to beat” for a “quintessential foliage experience,” complete with covered bridges and other postcard touches. Coastal Maine is about two days ahead of New Hampshire, whose White Mountains offer “spectacular high-elevation views” through Oct. 15. In Massachusetts, “the Berkshires deserve the attention they get” from Oct. 8 though Oct. 22. Finally, Rhode Island and Connecticut both pop in October’s last two weeks. Rhode Island offers “fall color with an ocean backdrop,” while the Nutmeg State unspools “beautiful combinations of water and color” in its river valleys. In the end, though, the best foliage trips aren’t about perfect leaves; they’re about “discovering something you weren’t looking for.”

---

Oyster season in Maine

"The site of oyster feasts for thousands of years," Maine's Damariscotta River becomes a travel hot spot just as summer cools off, said Jen Rose Smith in The Wall Street Journal. All along the tidal waterway, oysters reach peak flavor from Labor Day through December, making riverbank farms and raw bars

magnets for shellfish lovers. We spent two days sampling a variety of the river's bounty, from Glidden Point Oyster Farms, where the crop "had the umami tang of chicken soup," to the tiny Heron Island Oyster Co., with a harvest that "tasted of grass-fed butter." In 2017, the Maine Oyster Trail began promoting state producers, tour outfits, and eateries, but oyster bingeing is "nothing new" in these parts, as evidenced by Whaleback Shell Midden, a massive mound of shells piled up by the Penobscot, the land's native people. At the Shuck Station, a seasonal restaurant, I watched a young girl tip an oyster back and drop the remains. "One more shell for the modern midden."

---

The squeeze on holiday getaways

As travelers begin making their winter plans, said Mark Ellwood in Robb Report, five-star getaways “from Jackson Hole to Courchevel” are imposing a two-week minimum on end-of-year holiday stays. The aggressive ask is in part a response to rising demand in the luxury market. But hotels and rental properties that operate on a Friday-to-Friday weekly cycle are also contending with a calendar challenge: Both Christmas and New Year’s Day will fall on Friday, and “no one wants to travel on either of those days.” Some wealthy travelers don’t mind a 14-day minimum; it ensures their chosen resort will be hosting only elites. Others refuse to pay for nights they don’t need. One travel agent reports that a client who aimed to spend the holidays in the Caribbean with family last year chose to pay 20% more in total to charter a yacht appointed to the clan’s needs.

---

It's amazing what happens when you open the world to young minds

Reading sparks a lifetime love of learning, gets kids on track for success, and helps them identify and follow their passions. There are stories in The Week Junior that speak to every child and inspire them to keep reading.

Give The Week Junior and save 75% off the cover price. For only \$1.96 an issue, less than the cost of a full-size candy bar, your child can be inspired to read every week! Plus, if you subscribe today, your child will receive a free puzzle book!

Order online at

theweekjunior.com/autumn

WE ARE TEACHERS

TEACHER

PICKS

2026

---

[Best Properties on the Market] This week: Homes in Mexico

1 Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco This Spanish Colonial Revival villa is in a coastal vacation destination, on a hillside with ocean views. The three-bedroom has saltillo tile floors, textured walls, arched doorways, exposed beams, and decorative tiles. The primary bedroom opens to a balcony with a hot tub, and the vibrant kitchen includes stainless appliances. Outside are a pool with lion fountains, a lounge area, and a grilling station. \$985,000. Marta Huante, P.V. Realty, S.A. de C.V./Luxury Portfolio International, +52 (322) 102-0010

2 ▶ San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato Villa Pacifica, a Mexican-modern three-bedroom, is located in the Centro Histórico area of this arts-rich Central Highlands city. The vaulted living room features a linear fireplace with a stone floor-to-ceiling surround, heated floors, a wood tejamanil ceiling, and a glass wall. The stone-walled kitchen has a breakfast nook, and a sunroom and balcony overlook the yard and garden. Restaurants and shops are walkable. \$1,250,000. Anne Martin Jones, CDR Bienes Raices San Miguel/Luxury Portfolio International, +52 (415) 178-0737

3 ◀ Mexico City In the Anzures neighborhood, in the alcaldía of Miguel Hidalgo, Casa Thiers is a 1949 Spanish European-style estate. The six-bedroom main building features a central room with carved, coffered double-height ceilings, stained glass, columns, and a single-piece Carrara marble staircase. The formal rooms have the original inlaid floors, and the kitchen has marble counters and high-end appliances. The property also includes a two-bedroom guesthouse, a pool, a terrace, and a wood-fired oven. \$5,642,336. Maricruz Madrigal, Mexico Sotheby's International Realty, +52 (55) 5929-5252

---

Best Properties on the Market

5▶ La Paz, Baja California Sur Equinox, a modern home built in 2025 on the Baja Peninsula, looks out on the Gulf of California. The minimalist, open-plan five-bedroom features marble floors, walls of glass framing the water, a floating wood staircase, a white kitchen, and baths punctuated with decorative tile. Sliders open to a terrace with an infinity pool, a spa, and desert landscaping. Beaches, dining, and shops are a short drive. \$5,799,106. Vanessa Fukunaga, Engel & Völkers Snell Real Estate, (310) 728-5915

4 ◀ Huatulco, Oaxaca Overlooking the Gulf of Tehuantepec in a coastal town, this 1993 eight-bedroom estate has Mediterranean and Balinese influences across multiple structures. There's a cluster of two-bedroom bungalows with colorful details, and a dining and living area topped by a hand-woven palapa and anchored by amate trees. Outside are a tennis court, pool, hot tub, patios, and a cable car connecting to a private beach. \$8,000,000. Laura de la Torre de Skipsey, Mexico Sotheby's International Realty, +52 (55) 3466-6198

---

6 ◀ Bucerías,

Nayarit A block from Playa Bucerias on Banderas Bay, about 13 miles from Puerto Vallarta, this furnished two-bedroom condo can be closed into two units or opened into one. The

boho-inflected design includes rattan pendants, ceramic tile floors, and an open kitchen with an eat-in peninsula. Glass doors open to a balcony. Amenities include a shared pool, hot tub, and gym, plus deeded underground parking. \$379,000. Curtis Brownlee, MexHome Real Estate—Bucerias, +52 (322) 368-8897

[The News at a Glance] The bottom line

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin is giving \$3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University, the largest individual gift in higher education history. Of that, \$2 billion will go toward establishing a new campus in Miami focused on technology and innovation. Griffin moved Citadel's headquarters to Miami from Chicago in 2022. CNBC.com

■ The Treasury Department will automatically create up to 60 million Trump Accounts for eligible children in the U.S. starting in October. Kids born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, are eligible for a \$1,000 seed contribution from the government in their tax-deferred accounts. The agency said auto-enrollment will encourage more donors to make contributions.

CBSNews.com

■ Smart-ring maker Oura said this week it will delay its \$2 billion initial public offering, becoming the third official

IPO postponement

in September. Year to date, offerings of new shares have pulled in roughly \$145 billion

in proceeds, up

In proceeds, up nearly 400% from last year. But that's largely attributable to supersize offerings like SpaceX and SK Hynix.

Axios

■ Apple was ordered by a jury to pay more than \$5.7 billion to San Diego-based Taction Technology for using its patented haptic technology in iPhones and Apple Watches. The iPhone maker said it planned to appeal. CNBC.com

■ The average round-trip ticket for a flight within the U.S. during the Thanksgiving break is \$402, up \$95 from the same period a year ago, according to fare aggregator Hopper, while domestic airfares around Christmas are averaging \$452, up \$85 from last year. Overall, tickets for round-trip flights in the U.S. are up 31% from last year. CBSNews.com

---

Goldman Sachs: Waldron to be next CEO

Goldman Sachs finally has a succession plan in place, said AnnaMaria Andriotis and Emily Glazer in The Wall Street Journal. According to people familiar with the matter, the board of the ritzy Wall Street bank floated plans this week to replace chief executive David Solomon, 64, with current president and chief operating officer John Waldron “around the end of 2027 or in 2028.” Waldron has “long eyed the

Heir apparent

CEO role” and has been “the heir apparent for years.” He’s best known as a “top dealmaker and key client-facing asset” with an “extensive Rolodex of close relationships” with corporate executives and foreign government leaders. But filling Solomon’s shoes won’t be easy. Despite criticism for his beloved DJing hobby and a misguided

attempt to push into consumer banking, Solomon has “more than quadrupled” Goldman’s stock during his eight-year tenure.

Goldman has a history of “chewing through CEOs-in-waiting,” said Liz Hoffman in Semafor. Neither John Thain nor John Thornton ended up succeeding CEO Hank Paulson, while Gary Cohn similarly “tired of life as Prince Charles” under

Lloyd Blankfein. Waldron, by contrast, has “had the heir apparent title to himself for Solomon’s entire run,” something “no incoming Goldman CEO in Goldman’s history can say.” Solomon is a “stabilizing, corporatizing leader” who hasn’t lived up to his promise to “remake Goldman.” Waldron, however, is “a dealmaker at heart.”

---

Nvidia: Launches largest stock buyback ever

Chipmaker Nvidia announced this week it will buy back \$150 billion more of its shares, said Lauren McCarthy and Kalley Huang in The New York Times, just four months after it “added \$80 billion to the company’s” share repurchase program, which lasts until 2028. CEO Jensen Huang said the cash will subsidize “a once-in-a-generation platform shift to AI and accelerated computing.” Buybacks typically reward investors, executives, and employees by raising stock prices and limiting shares for sale. It comes after Nvidia reported record sales of \$96.2 billion in the most recent quarter.

---

SpaceX: Starship rocket reaches orbit

SpaceX's massive Starship rocket reached orbit this week for the first time before one of its engines failed, necessitating a crash landing in the Pacific, said Loren Grush in Bloomberg. The reusable rocket and its Super Heavy booster launched from the Starbase facility in southern Texas and successfully placed 26 Starlink satellites alongside others as part of the existing “internet-from-space network,” a “major milestone” for the program. But after reaching space, one of the engines cut out, forcing the company to bring Starship “home earlier than planned.”

---

Oracle: Invokes ‘force majeure’ at data center site

Oracle last week sent a “force majeure” notice, usually reserved for extraordinary “act of God” events, to the developer of a data center that is “mired in challenges,” said Peter Rudegeair in The Wall Street Journal. Oracle “signed a lease for the New Mexico facility with so-called hell-or-high-water terms,” meaning it “can’t be terminated.” But the site is facing numerous roadblocks, including local resistance and permitting delays, and Oracle wants to withhold rent payments for up to three years. Oracle’s stock fell 8% on fears that it won’t fulfill its pledge to provide “\$300 billion in cloud-computer services” to OpenAI.

---

Autos: U.S. guts fuel economy standards

The Trump administration finalized new, lower federal fuel economy standards last week, making it easier for the automobile industry to sell gas-powered cars, said Amy Stillman in Bloomberg. Automakers are now expected to maintain “a fleet average of 34.9 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks in model year 2031.” That’s up from 30.1 miles per gallon for 2024 vehicles, but it’s “far less than the 50 miles per gallon required under former president Joe Biden” by 2031. Automakers complained that Biden’s requirements “effectively discouraged the sale” of combustion-engine cars “in favor of emission-free electric models.”

---

The one food not going up in price

Caviar used to be the dish of kings, said Jamie Waters in The Wall Street Journal. Now trendy online merchants are promoting “cutely branded tins at prices so approachable they would appall an oligarch.” Caviar, which is the name for salted roe sourced from sturgeons, typically commanded princely sums because a “sturgeon takes years to produce eggs.” But a lot of caviar today is coming out of China, whose fish farms have “shaken up a market long ruled by legacy sellers” in Russia. Kaluga Queen, a Chinese producer, supplies several U.S. direct-to-consumer companies like Roe House and Quince, whose osetra caviar “costs \$125 for a 100-gram tin.” Another website, for Los Angeles brand Loft, has more markdowns on its caviar “than a bikini brand in winter.” So how does all this cheap caviar taste? Roe House’s White Sturgeon was “subtle and moreish,” while Cavi’s Kaluga hybrid “won extra points for butteriness.” Others we tested, however, “tasted like a big ol’gulp of the ocean.”

---

Iced coffee: Symbol of eroding office manners?

The iced coffee debate “isn’t really about iced coffee,” said Beth Kowitt in Bloomberg. If you’ve been on social media recently, you’ve likely seen the viral debate about workplace etiquette and whether it is acceptable to bring a caffeinated beverage to a job interview. Younger people broadly think it’s fine, while their older peers think its slovenly and unprofessional. That this silly argument took off says a lot about the “tension” between employers and young employees who feel “misunderstood” and anxious “about their place in this evolving landscape.” In the current labor market,

employers have a clear advantage over those looking for work, putting bosses “in their command-and-control era”—increasing surveillance, cutting benefits, and demanding office attendance. Meanwhile, Gen Z distrusts the “arbitrary rules” of major institutions, including the unwritten expectations around job interviews. To older generations, this skepticism can look like “entitlement or insubordination.” Really, it’s a conflict over “who gets to decide the norms of this new workplace.”

Thinking it's OK to sip a latte during an interview reflects “a larger behavioral pattern,” said Finn McRedmond in The Irish Times (Ireland). Remember, this is the same generation that introduced us to “quiet quitting, or the trend among young employees to show up at the office, do the bare minimum, collect their paycheck, and never work a minute over contracted hours.” Gen Z

Too cool for a job interview

treats the job interview process with disdain because they “don’t want to work.”

There is no standard “job interview process” in a landscape that is “so confusing, discouraging, and exhausting,” said Julia Carpenter in The Washington Post. Just a few years ago, most interview advice revolved around covering up tattoos, avoiding salary questions, and following up with a thank-you note. All that has changed. Most hiring today is also done over Zoom, introducing “a whole new slate of do’s and don’ts,” and “not every-

one agrees on which rules to keep and which to toss out." To young people who have only ever interviewed on camera, the idea that you shouldn't bring an iced coffee to an in-person meeting might legitimately be "a new one."

I'm mostly relieved to hear that in-person interviews are still happening, said Emma Jacobs in the Financial Times. With bots handling the bulk of the hiring process, “contact with flesh-and-blood humans seems to be in short supply.” In the age of AI, workplaces are “crying out for the quirk of humans—those who can push back, bring something different, think outside the box.” Now the older generation is scolding workers for having a different view on interview etiquette without recognizing the cold reality of today’s job market. “Meeting a real person seems a cause for celebration: perhaps even a fancy cold beverage?”

What the experts say

A vigilante taking on LinkedIn scams

An out-of-work copywriter has made it his mission to find fake job ads, said Lindsay Ellis in The Wall Street Journal. Calling himself "the Profiler," Jay Jones, 39, spends hours on LinkedIn and other job sites searching for suspicious recruiters, fake companies, and duplicated profiles. Many scammers exploit candidates' desperation, pretending to act as recruiters or hiring coaches. They may say "your résumé isn't up to par—but if you pay up, they will help you get an offer." Motivated by his own close run-in with a fraudster, Jones says he has "flagged about 7,000 scam profiles" and "tracked nearly 60,000 fake jobs." One of Jones' tips? Look twice at profiles "with last names that can also be first names," such as "Linda Anthony."

■ Wall Street landlords draw voter ire

Housing costs are a hot-button issue for the midterms, said Michael Taffe in the Financial Times—and politicians know who to blame. "An FT analysis of campaign language in competitive congressional races" has found that "negative comments about private equity and corporate landlords have risen sharply in 2026, with their investments frequently being linked to rising prices." More than two dozen candidates for House and Senate races “have pledged to restrict purchases or ownership by private equity firms, hedge funds, or other institutional investors,” who own a small fraction of the housing stock but make for an easy target. In July, Congress passed a housing bill barring large institutional investors from owning “more than 350 single-family homes.” But smaller, boutique firms are still buying up low- and middle-income housing, some candidates say.

■ Hospitals and insurers fight over AI

Insurance company executives and hospital officials are “pointing their fingers at each other for spiraling health costs,” said Reed Abelson and Teddy Rosenbluth in The New York Times. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association released a report last week that claimed hospitals’ increasing usage of artificial intelligence was “responsible for nearly \$1 billion in additional expenses over two years.” Because AI tools collect more patient data, insurers say the hospitals are “describing patients as having more complicated conditions,” or adding secondary diagnoses—and getting an average of \$12,000 more per patient. Meanwhile, insurance companies are facing growing criticism for using AI “to help determine whether certain kinds of care should be covered.”

---

Charity of the week

Across the U.S., some 40,000 children and adults live with cystic fibrosis, a progressive genetic disease that affects

CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION

the lungs, pancreas, and liver. Symptoms include persistent coughing, frequent lung infections, poor weight gain despite a good appetite, and difficulty with bowel movements. Since 1955, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (cff.org) has provided hundreds of millions of dollars per year to researchers and its own Massachusetts laboratory to identify and test pioneering therapies for the disease. Most recently, the CFF has been supporting promising new research at the cutting edge of biotechnology, including mRNA therapy and gene-replacement therapies that target the cause of cystic fibrosis: a gene making a defective protein. Multiple clinical trials involving both approaches are already underway. The foundation also hosts an annual research conference and supports interdisciplinary think tanks in universities.

---

Paramount: Will its Warner takeover pay off?

Paramount may have “cleared its biggest hurdle to completing its \$111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery,” said Shirley Li in The Atlantic, but the entertainment giant and its chief executive, David Ellison, aren’t “anywhere out of the woods.” His soon-to-be merged entity will face a huge amount of pressure to generate box-office hits after agreeing as part of a settlement with state attorneys general to release at least 30 films a year over the next five years, up from 19 in 2025. Paramount also agreed to spend \$300 million more annually than it did last year to produce films in the U.S., and “making movies will only add to the company’s outgoing debt.” Paramount borrowed over \$54 billion for its takeover bid, bringing the combined firm’s total debt to \$80 billion. That’s why, in addition to a 49.5% investment from the wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, Ellison has reportedly considered tapping another controversial investor: Elon Musk.

Deal with states included a film-release pledge.

Putting “an enormous collection of Hollywood’s most recognizable assets under one roof” will have consequences, said Lindsey Granger in The Hill. Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO, and CBS are one company now. Despite the pledge to invest in domestic movie production, Paramount “has told investors it expects roughly \$6 billion in cost savings from the combination,” and in business parlance, “efficiency always translates into eliminating jobs.” That doesn’t just include actors and writers, but also “editors, camera operators, producers, production assistants, electricians, and transportation workers.” And for those trying to break into Hollywood, consolidation means “fewer doors to knock on.”

Ellison is a crusader for the silver screen, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, but his main motivation was expanding “Paramount’s library to compete with the likes of Netflix, Disney, and Amazon.” His desire to dominate the streaming business was probably why he “placated the AGs by agreeing to establish an ‘editorial independence board’” to oversee CNN and CBS News. The board “is a joke,” said Edward Wasserman in the San Francisco Chronicle. This “comically useless remedy” was previously used by Rupert Murdoch to ease antitrust scrutiny during his media acquisitions. Once the deals were done, Murdoch disregarded any guarantees and replaced editorial leadership with his own hires. The CBS-CNN editorial team could similarly become “a sock puppet that conceals the menace of a political takeover.” But this one comes with “unalloyed sympathy” for Trump—as evinced by Ellison’s installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as head of CBS News and his apparent courtship of Musk.

“Many in Hollywood have branded California AG Rob Bonta a ‘coward’” for failing to stop the takeover, said Erika D. Smith in Bloomberg. But the issue is bigger than one man. California is “used to throwing its weight around with corporate America.” But Ellison’s threat to move Paramount’s studio to Tennessee or Georgia if the deal was blocked—taking with it 60,000 jobs and over \$21 billion in economic output—was enough to make California flinch. The state “is usually the one issuing threats, not caving to them.” But leaving the Golden State “isn’t as unthinkable as it used to be.” Letting this merger go is another indication that California “is simply not quite as powerful as it once was.”

---

Bond markets are sending a message

Ross Clark

The Washington Post

---

Deregulation could hide another Enron

Stephen Foley

Financial Times

Everyone seems to be freaking out about the bond markets, said Ross Clark. Well, everyone except President Trump. Last week, the “yield on 10-year Treasury notes—a measure of the market’s confidence that the government can pay the interest on its debt—crossed 5%,” the highest level since 2007. Normally, this would be viewed “as a sign to rein in government spending.” Instead, Trump has announced that every American adult citizen will get a \$5,000 dividend should Republicans clinch the midterms, a payout that would have the government adding \$1.2 trillion “to the over \$40 trillion national debt.” Trump isn’t intimidated by bond

In December, it will be 25 years since the mass accounting fraud that bankrupted Enron, said Stephen Foley. And how is the Securities and Exchange Commission marking the occasion? By rolling back the safeguards put in place to avert another catastrophe. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in 2002, started requiring public companies to get an independent audit opinion on the quality of their internal financial controls. The number of U.S. public companies needing to restate their financial results has fallen steadily ever since. One early critic of the law, however, was Paul Atkins, “who complained that auditors were testing tens or even hundreds of thousands of largely irrelevant procedures vigilantes. But “when a bond crisis strikes, it can hit fast and hard.” Just ask Greece, which held “loose fiscal policy for years until, in December 2009, the ratings agencies had finally had enough and downgraded its debt,” prompting investors to dump Greek bonds. Dramatic austerity followed, and real incomes in Greece still haven’t recovered. Britain’s fiscal situation looks even more dire than America’s. The yield on its 10-year notes hit 5.43% last week. It too has a leader, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has resisted calls “to pay off debt” and instead advocated for borrowing “even more.” For such irresponsible politicians, “a reckoning is coming.”

and systems,” costing businesses money. Now the SEC—led by Atkins—plans to slash the number of listed companies that are required to get an audit, exempting every company with a public float of less than \$2 billion and any company within five years of going public, “even if they are SpaceX-size behemoths.” Adkins says the move is meant to “make IPOs great again.” But research shows that internal weaknesses are much “more likely to be identified by auditors than management,” which also tends to characterize any problems as “less severe.” The SEC says investors have nothing to fear: There are still requirements on every company “to have strong financial controls.” Tell that to Enron’s investors.

---

The teacher who built Cowboys cheerleading

Dee Brock

1930-2026

Dee Brock was a schoolteacher and model when Tex Schramm, general

manager of the Dallas Cowboys, approached her with a proposition. It was 1961, the year after the NFL expansion team's winless first season, and Schramm wanted to attract more fans to games. Wouldn't having pretty models cheering on the sidelines

do the trick? “Models don’t lead cheers,” Brock told him. Instead, she assembled a squad of high school cheerleaders. Over time she replaced the teens with adult women, brought in a choreographer to spice up their moves, and swapped their white uniforms for a decidedly sexier getup of short shorts, fringed vests, blue crop tops, and cowboy boots. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders became a sideline sensation, recognized around the globe. Dubbed “America’s sweet-hearts,” they’ve spawned TV movies, a Barbie doll, a 2018 documentary, a Netflix reality TV series, and a display of their uniforms at the Smithsonian. “You have a team playing on the field,” Brock said in 2022, “you should have excitement off the field, too.”

The daughter of a union organizer dad and a bank teller mom, Brock grew up in Wright City, Texas, where she was a cheerleader in

high school, said Texas Monthly. "Ambitious" and "whip-smart," she attended North Texas State College, earning a master's in English, then taught high school while modeling. With her husband, a Dallas Times Herald writer, she was an active "member of Dallas' society scene"—which is how she met Schramm. She was "especially proud," said People, that she managed to persuade Schramm to let her integrate

the squad in 1965, a time when Dallas was still largely segregated. By 1971, when the Cowboys won their first Super Bowl, Black cheerleaders made up half the roster.

Brock ran the growing cheer enterprise as “something of a hobby” while continuing to teach, said The New York Times. A founding faculty member at Dallas’ first community college, she earned a doctorate in English and developed college-level courses to be carried on local television. That led to a job at PBS, where she created televised courses in business, American history, and other subjects, shown on 250 affiliate stations. In 2022, she was honored with a Cowboys lifetime achievement award, and past and present cheerleaders traveled to her home on a team bus to hand her a “glittering rhinestone football.” Her message to them? “Keep on loving the Cowboys, and keep on cheering.”

---

The Hawk who became the NBA's first MVP

Bob Pettit

1932-2026

With relentless rebounding and dominant scoring, Bob Pettit defined

the position of power forward. Decades before basketball stars like Charles Barkley brought glory to the role, Pettit showed that a player could steer the course of a game from a spot near the basket. Playing from 1954 to 1965, he was an All-Star every year,

won the league's first MVP award in 1956, and became the first to score at least 20,000 points. Pettit played exclusively for the Hawks, first in Milwaukee and then in St. Louis, leading the team to its sole championship and retiring as the league's second-leading career rebounder. Known for his grit and tenacity, he delivered one of the all-time greatest playoff performances in 1958, scoring 50 points to clinch the championship over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Finals. "I was getting the ball, shooting it, and it was going in," he said. "I didn't think there was anything they could do to stop me."

Born in Baton Rouge, Pettit “was a late bloomer in basketball,” said ESPN.com. As a sophomore, he didn’t even make his high school squad, but by his senior year, he was

6 foot 9 and leading the team to a state championship. He was an All-American center at Louisiana State University, but at only 200 pounds, many were skeptical he could compete against the pros. Still, the Hawks signed him in 1954, moving him from center to forward. Once he bulked up, he morphed into “a prototype for the modern-day power forward,” said The New York Times. The league

named him rookie of the year.

A knee injury forced Pettit into retirement at 32, with 20,880 points and 12,849 rebounds to his name. Feeling that “his future was more secure outside the game,” said The Washington Post, he became a banker rather than a coach. But his love for basketball endured. Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971 and named one of the 50 greatest players in the league’s first half century in 1996, he was a regular at LSU and New Orleans Pelicans games. He put his success down to dogged determination. “I kept on plugging away and raising my goals,” he said in 2007. “I won my high school letter as a junior and I thought, ‘Now I want to win a state championship,’ and so on. Ten years later, I wanted to be the best player in the world.”

---

The North Carolinian who won justice for Black farmers

Timothy Pigford just wanted a fair shake. A fourth-generation Black farmer in North Carolina, he spent decades applying for the same federal farm loans his white neighbors got, but was repeatedly denied. Finally he became lead plain-

Timothy Pigford

1951-2026 tiff in a 1997

class-action

lawsuit

alleging the

USDA had

systematically discriminated against Black farmers, and he won the largest civil rights settlement in U.S. history. For Pigford, it was about more than his seven-figure share of the \$2 billion payout. "It has always been my dream to own and farm my own land," he testified to Congress in 1984. "There's dirt under my fingernails."

Born in Willard, N.C., Pigford "was farming by the time he was 8," working his grandfather's allotment, said The New York Times. In his early 20s, he took a second job at a chemical plant to make the rent on his 25 acres, often working over 100 hours a week. Pigford found he could easily get loans "to rent land, but never to buy it." And after his congressional testimony about the unfair treatment white USDA agents meted out, county officials ganged up on him. "Serious problems for the Pigford household ensued," as debts mounted and the family was evicted. But when Pigford v. Glickman was settled, the USDA was forced to reckon with its racism.

The aftermath “was not without controversy,” said AgDaily.com. The suit began with 400 claimants but swelled to over 90,000—more than the number of Black farmers at the time—leading to accusations of fraud. Pigford, meanwhile, saw his award eaten by taxes and expenses. “We were worse off than when we filed,” said his wife, Janice. But she said her husband felt it was worth it, because he “didn’t want other people to suffer what we went through.”

---

[Stranded in a strange land] After months in ICE detention, Cuban national Rogelio Bolufé was deported from the U.S., said Jose Pagliery in The Washington Sun. He landed in Ecuador with no ID, no money, and no way out.

Bolufé in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a city rife with gang violence

GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR—

Rogelio Bolufé stared out the porthole of the white Boeing 767 as the landing gear hummed to life. He eyed endless green fields, a sparkling expanse of water, and a sprawling city along a river. The 44-year-old Cuban, who’d lost months of his life inside the vast network of U.S. immigration jails, was staring at his new purgatory: southern Ecuador.

His mind wasn't on the reality of being stranded in this strange place; that despair would swallow him later. Instead, his thoughts were fixed on the piles of documents that had been

taken by prison guards and vanished.

reggaeton performers, and it was after a recording session on Aug. 17, 2025, that his crew got pulled over by Hialeah cops who wrote in their report that they found “a small clear plastic baggie with white powdery substance resembling cocaine” in his pocket when he stepped out of his client’s Lamborghini. Bolufé posted bail, but ICE agents grabbed him, hauling him to the new swamp detention camp that had become the butt of Trump’s jokes. “Don’t run in a straight line,” the president once said, to advise on how to avoid getting eaten by alligators.

And now, he thought, I disappear too.

His deportee companions, mostly returning Ecuadorians and men from neighboring Peru, talked themselves into a frenzy over how they'd show journalists on the ground the deep and dark impressions on their wrists—evidence that they'd been tightly bound for more than 24 hours in hot and mostly stationary buses and planes with little water and infuriating discomfort. But when the plane landed at the airport in Guayaquil minutes before noon on June 1, the tarmac was empty. Bolufé heard one man ask: "Don't people worry about us?"

He was still wearing his dark green prison clothes when he stepped into the scorching midday sun, down the stairs, and onto the runway. An American man in uniform handed him a sheet of paper.

“Pasaporte de emergencia,” it read. “Ecuatoriano nacido en Ecuador.”

Bolufé shot the man a confused look. The document was a blatant lie. Bolufé was not an “Ecuadorian born in Ecuador.” The Department of Homeland Security knew that. It was in his case file and detention records and plastered all over the internet thanks to his minor celebrity status in political circles back in Miami’s Little Havana.

But it had been days since he'd slept. And Bolufé had just ended an 11-day hunger strike over worsening detention conditions back in the United States, a protest he suspected had landed him this one-way trip to one of the most notorious cities in South America. In a split second, Bolufé decided he would not object. There was no way he'd wait for this to sort itself out while trapped at a local jail cell in the narco cartel city of Guayaquil. That would be a death sentence.

He handed the paper to an Ecuadorian immigration officer (who kept it), nodded when asked to verify the details, and was soon handed a blue drawstring bag from the Red Cross. Bolufé made his way to the airport's passenger waiting area and sat on a black chair in the shadow of a silvery escalator. He pulled a bottle of milk from the bag and downed it in seconds.

For the next half hour, he considered his options. The U.S. government had ditched him in a foreign country with no money, no cellphone, and no passport. His drab prison uniform, disheveled hair, and two-month scraggly beard made him unapproachable. His only identification was a green prison wristband and a CoreCivic commissary card—not official and, if anything, red flags.

Rogelio Enrique Bolufé Izquierdo—a Cuban man who had made his way through the archipelago of U.S. immigration detention centers, surviving the swampy dangers of “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades and the frigid cells of an El Paso jail in Texas and the spreading diseases at Camp East Montana—was stuck.

I FIRST CAME across Bolufé while researching allegations of human rights violations at Alligator Alcatraz.

How he got there was a tale of its own. He had once run a club in Havana, but he got stuck on a trip to Miami during the Covid closures. Without a work visa, he got by on eBay selling rare Cuban literature he found at an estate sale. He remade himself in Miami as someone who books

In the months that followed, Bolufé became my connection within the ICE detention system. He attested to how guards were punishing prisoners by forcing them into a small cage on the tarmac of the converted airport, exposed to the swamp's blistering summer sun and relentless mosquitoes. His eyes grew wide when he described what it felt like to be chained to an eyebolt on the floor, forced to wear a thin prison outfit while surrounded by guards in parkas as the air in the massive prison tent dropped to what felt like 40 degrees.

While at New Mexico's Torrance County Detention Facility, he connected me to men who alleged mistreatment after witnessing guards suffocate to death Cuban detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos at Camp East Montana in Texas. And he flooded my P.O. box with letters and collected signatures from fellow detainees decrying the conditions behind bars at ICE facilities nationwide. He even helped organize La Union de Secuestrados por ICE, a kind of union of detainees “kidnapped by ICE.”

On May 7, guards snatched two boxes of his personal documents. Bolufé went on a hunger strike. ICE ping-ponged him across the country—a tactic he thought was an attempt to break him. Eventually, an immigration judge rejected Bolufé’s asylum claim. The stated reason for deportation was straightforward: Bolufé had overstayed his tourist visa that expired in July 2020. His journey through ICE detention came to an end when the Board of Immigration Appeals—largely replaced by appointees aligned with MAGA’s maximalist deportation policies—wouldn’t reconsider the ruling.

---

The Last Word

Asked by The Washington Sun about the circumstances of his deportation and the inaccurate paperwork he received, DHS asserted that Bolufé has dual citizenship in Ecuador—something he immediately rejected. Bolufé said he briefly ran a bar in a Cuban neighborhood in northern Ecuador 15 years ago but returned to Cuba.

As for Bolufé's personal effects, DHS told the Sun that “ICE ensures all of their personal property is controlled and safeguarded” but did not say what happened to his possessions. It also said “any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention facilities is FALSE,” adding that “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”

DHS did not answer questions about third-country removals to Ecuador or the safety concerns around transporting migrants to a place like Guayaquil. Instead, it offered a warning to other undocumented immigrants. “Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens \$2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now,” a spokesperson emailed the Sun.

WHEN BOLUFÉ REACHED out to me in mid-June, he was at a cheap hotel in a terrible part of Guayaquil, calling from a number I didn't recognize. A week later, I met him at the rundown Hotel Presidente Economy. The sagging porte cochere faces a dilapidated street where men with hard stares stand by their off-road bikes and women spend their days building papier-mâché statues they hope to sell at Christmastime. The hotel entrance's heavy metal doors are kept locked at all times, but the rooms have loose knobs that barely keep them shut. Windows face the corrugated tin roofs of the nearby buildings. Salsa and reggaeton blast late into the night, and the occasional gunshots barely register above the music and the street dogs that begin to howl around midnight.

“All this moving around has me really uneasy,” he said. “I’ve had too many changes in the last few days.”

His primary concern was how to get by each day, which was difficult enough in a place where some coffee shops and taxis request an Ecuadorian government ID number just to hand over a receipt. But the gnawing concern in the background was figuring out how to get out of the country. The way he landed there, he feared, could make escape harder.

"I have the stigma of being deported here," he told me, "and having been deported here is already a very bad mark against you when applying for a visa to any other country."

Later, I persuaded Bolufé to guide me around the city so I could retrace his steps, first at the airport then at various hotels. During lunch at one point, he stressed the need to start planting roots at this new place he refused to call home.

“I need to socialize and make some connections,” he said. “In reality, I’m quite alone here.” It was a Friday, and Bolufé decided he’d start at the most unlikely of places in this typically Catholic city, where nuns can be seen picking up a salty pan de ambato at pastry shops. Bolufé claims to have converted to Islam sometime during his 286-day ICE detention, having discovered the benefits of that tight-knit community behind bars. So we visited the Centro Islámico Guayaquil for its midday service. The imam, speaking in Spanish but singing in Arabic, said exactly what Bolufé needed to hear: The misfortunes one endures are nothing—all that matters are the teachings of Allah.

Mobile Pathways, a nonprofit that monitors third-country expulsions and tracks court data, counted 1,836 Cubans who have been deported to Ecuador since the start of the second Trump administration. According to the Ecuadorian government, 94 have arrived seeking asylum in 2026 so far.

Soldiers on patrol in Guayaquil

But there's a flood on the horizon. According to Third Country Deportation Watch, a joint project between two humanitarian organizations, the U.S. immigration system in just the six months between December and June has put 18,552 people who aren't from Ecuador on track for a forced deportation there. Among them are thousands of Venezuelans, Cubans, Guatemalans—and even a few from Burkina Faso, a West African nation that has become a battleground for Islamist militias.

Those who track U.S. deportation flights say they now arrive at Guayaquil airport three times a week on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

DURING MY LAYOVER in Miami on the way to Ecuador, I was reminded of the alternate reality on display in conservative Little Havana. The old Cuban-American guard hanging out at outdoor coffee shops still have MAGA bumper stickers on their pickup trucks. The fear of mistreatment and expulsion is only real for recent newcomers like Jose Reina, who fled Cuba and trekked across most of Central America with the help of a \$5,000 human-trafficking coyote. He managed to get legal status at the tail end of the Biden administration and now works at a hotel in South Florida. “Those people that defend Trump are blind—no different than the communists I knew on the island,” he said. “One has to think for themselves.”

That's not a parallel you hear often in Cuban-American circles, where politics have been dominated by Republican Party identity for decades. But it's different for those at the receiving end of the Trump administration's deportation apparatus.

Sitting on a lawn chair on a hill overlooking the dark waters of the Guayas River, Bolufé admitted that he admired Trump's nostalgic vision of America and cheered him on—until he saw what ICE agents and private-contractor prison guards were willing to do to detainees like him. Then he offered up something unexpected: Despite the chains and cold rooms and moldy shower stalls, he would have preferred to remain in ICE detention than get sent to Ecuador. At least it was a labyrinth he had learned to navigate.

That traumatic past was starting to fade into the background. All the jail transfers and quarrels with guards were blurring together, Bolufé said, and he’d rather look forward than wrestle memories. My days with him in Guayaquil had jolted his inner drive, long suppressed from “everything that happened.” He pulled up his phone and tapped the screen. He began recording a voice note asking a reggaeton agent if his client would be interested in booking a show. When his cigarettes ran out, he treated himself to my pack and pulled out another. He turned his back to the river and called a buddy in Miami who asked what he was doing next.

He had big plans. He was headed to Mexico, he said—although he was unsure how he’d travel there. Or maybe Spain, where he’d claim some sort of asylum. Or maybe Egypt, to embrace his new faith, although he didn’t know a lick of Arabic. Well, he knew one word. “Inshallah,” he said, with a wave of his left hand.

[The Puzzle Page] Crossword No. 859: So Nice You Say It Twice by Matt Gaffney

---

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68

ACROSS

ACROSS

1 Mercedes and Toyota, say

6 Come out on top

9 Prefix meaning "five"

14 Muse of lyric poetry

15 Polo mallet wood

16 Carrier that launched in 1979

17 16-year-old Thai girl who won Season 21 of America's Got Talent on Sept. 23

19 "It's Gonna Be Me" band

20 Lines on maps (abbr.)

21 Toro, in sushi places

22 Poetry about people, often

23 Spiced tea

25 She's won more Grammys (18) than any other female gospel singer

29 Miss Montana for four years

31 After expenses

32 Vote cast in favor

33 Paid under the table, maybe

36 Sharp

37 Mexican American singer with four Grammys

40 Dropped suitcase's sound

42 Drive beyond, as a landmark

43 Person in a will, often

44 That boat

46 Convicted by the jury

50 Actress who played the title spelling bee champ in Akeelah and the Bee

54 Pair sometimes hazel

55 Guess the true intentions of

56 "Yeah, tell me another one"

58 Old Testament bk.

59 Loud, like a crowd

61 She released her fourth album, Dirty Blonde, on June 12

63 The Phantom Menace director

64 "Bravissimal!"

65 " \_ doing that!"

66 Tea type

67 Take down the aisle

68 "Let \_ ..."

---

DOWN

1 Good guy

2 Franklin who topped Rolling Stone's 2023 list of "Greatest Singers of All Time"

3 Jayhawker

4 Summer, at the Sorbonne

5 Pair up, as socks

6 Brady or Newton

7 Stern who used a bow

8 Org. with Kings, Canucks, and Kraken

9 Peanut gallery occupant

10 To eat, in Tübingen

11 Skeptic

12 Roof material, sometimes

13 Story line

18 Boo-boo

22 Be indebted to

24 Words added to fortune cookie fortunes to make them funny

26 Finish

27 Born with the surname of

28 Part of many California city names

30 Jean of art

34 Defeat by a score of 6-0, in tennis slang

35 Driving force

36 Holmes on screens

37 Johnny Rotten genre

38 "Same here"

39 Shaq played college ball there

40 Shaming consonants

41 Long-handled tool

44 Like Alaska's population

45 Devoured

47 Mountain mammals

48 Nervous chuckle

49 Slingshots have one

51 2023 Best Picture winner, as known for short by its initials

52 Coffee machine brand

53 Went back to lower levels

57 Quick haircut

59 The Matterhorn is one

60 Have major regret about

61 Acknowledge applause

62 \_\_ out a living