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2 NEWS The main stories...
The fight over Obama’s trade deal
What happened pedo this deal in either the Senate or House, China will
Legislation designed to ease the passage of a key trade deal simply create its own Asia trade agreement—isolating
with Asia appeared headed for approval in the Senate this the U.S. and further advancing Beijing’s “regional and
week, despite a brief but embarrassing rebellion by Senate global strategic dominance.”
Democrats against President Obama. Obama has made it a
priority to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—a broad The deal as it stands appears to contain some worry-
accord facilitating greater economic cooperation with ing provisions, said The New York Times. It would
Japan, South Korea, and nine other nations. allow countries to adopt strict pharmaceutical patent
But an attempt to introduce “fast-track” regulations that “could make many medicines unaf-
legislation, which would limit congressio- fordable to poor people,” and does nothing
nal oversight of the trade deals to a simple to stop countries from artificially depressing
Warren: Leading a populist rebellion
up-or-down vote, was initially blocked by their currencies to boost exports—something
Senate Democrats who fear it will amplify the destructive impact that hurts U.S. businesses and workers. But Obama can address
of globalization on U.S. manufacturing jobs. After the bill was these concerns with amendments and more transparency. A com-
delayed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority promise “would be good for the American economy.”
Leader Harry Reid worked out a compromise that would enable
many Democrats to drop their opposition. That deal would allow What the columnists said
a separate vote on legislation Democrats have been demanding The TPP stinks, said David Dayen in Salon.com. While Obama re-
that would penalize China for allegedly manipulating its currency peatedly boasts that the accord involves 40 percent of the world’s
to make its exports cheaper. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, GDP, the U.S. already has trade deals with six of the 11 other
said of the fast-track legislation: “It’s going to pass.” countries—so the TPP “would have virtually no significance in
opening new markets.” All it would do is send more jobs abroad.
The fast-track bill would then go to the House, where it will also Ask the former employees of now-shuttered American factories
meet Democratic resistance. Opposition to the TPP, which would how past trade deals have worked out for them.
be the biggest trade agreement since the 1994 North American
Free Trade Agreement, has been spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Democrats can’t stop the rising tide of globalization, said Zachary
Warren (D.-Mass.). Supporters of the TPP argue that it would Karabell in Politico.com. The TPP “will at best remove friction”
remove barriers to vital Asian markets for American businesses, from international trade by eliminating tariffs, but with or without
increase exports, and help contain China’s regional clout. But War- those tariffs, global trade will continue to expand rapidly, and jobs
ren has said it will kill American jobs, lower workers’ wages, and will continue to move to low-wage Asian countries. If the cost of
possibly enable U.S. banks to adopt foreign banking practices, thus doing business with the U.S. is too high, other countries will find
evading Dodd-Frank financial regulation laws. Obama accused his alternatives elsewhere, and we’ll lose out on expanded markets
fellow Democrat of political posturing, dismissing her argument as and cheaper imports. Retreating “into a fairy tale that we can halt
“absolutely wrong.” this tide” will only hasten the U.S.’s economic decline.

What the editorials said
This is what Obama gets when he “treats members of Congress
as peasants who must bow before his superior wisdom,” said The
Wall Street Journal. The TPP is “the best opportunity in decades
to liberalize trade”—yet rather than trying to “cultivate coalitions
from the center out,” Obama alienated protectionists on both the
Right and Left with derision and condescension. If Democrats tor-
Even though Warren’s victory was temporary, said Dana Milbank
in The Washington Post, the rebellion she led may have been a
“turning point” for Democrats. Even former TPP supporter Hill-
ary Clinton was cowed into silence—emboldening other Demo-
crats to rebel. With public anger over growing inequality now at
“critical mass,” Warren and her fellow populists have proved they
are “firmly in control of the Democratic Party.”

It wasn’t all bad
QNext week, Anthony Brutto will
graduate from West Virginia Univer-
sity, 76 years after he first enrolled. to take turns belting out their favorite songs. The choices
The 94-year-old started college in
1939, when tuition cost just $50. He
was drafted three years later and
served in the Army Air Corps as a
mechanic. After the war, Brutto brief-
ly returned to school but dropped out
when his wife fell ill. He worked as a
machinist for most of his life before
recently resolving to get his diploma.
“It was always important to me to
graduate,” he said. He’s not so sure
about a master’s degree, though. “I
QFor 17 years, Pastor Tony Stallworth has hosted a rau- QWhen Ben Moser was in fourth
cous karaoke night for the homeless people of Skid Row grade, he promised his friend Mary
in downtown Los Angeles. Every week, some 200 people Lapkowicz that he’d take her to
fill the Central City Community Church of the Nazarene prom. Moser had always watched
over Lapkowicz, who has Down
span gospel and R&B syndrome, including her in every
to country and rock, game. “If it was looking like she
and members of the wasn’t having fun, he would go over
audience cheer as they and talk to her,” said their former
waltz, break-dance, and teacher, Tracey Spogli. Mary ended
form conga lines. “It’s up transferring schools, and the two
a little bit of a return fell out of touch. But Moser remem-
to normalcy in an area bered his promise. Last week, the
that’s just absolute 17-year-old high school quarterback
chaos,” said Andy Bates, presented Mary with balloons, and
who heads a local char- the childhood friends attended his
ity. “People lose them- prom together. “You should do
Corbis, AP

think I’ll take a break for a while.” A Skid Row resident takes the mic. selves in that moment.” what’s right,” he said. “Simple.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015 Illustration by Howard McWilliam.

Cover photos from AP, Corbis, Reuters, Getty
 ... and how they were covered NEWS 3

Amtrak disaster in Philly
Transportation officials said this week that a dev-
astating Amtrak crash in Philadelphia that killed
at least seven people and injured another 150 was
likely caused by excessive speed. Northeast Re-
gional Train 188 was traveling from Washington,
D.C., to New York City when it derailed near a
sharp bend in Philadelphia’s Port Richmond neigh-
borhood. Data retrieved from the train’s black-box
recorders indicate the train entered the curve at
Rescuing the injured
106 mph, twice the speed limit for that stretch of
track. All seven cars derailed, hurling passengers into luggage racks
and trapping them under the carriages’ mangled metal frames. “It
was just chaos and craziness,” said passenger Jeremy Wladis.
Hours after the disaster, Republicans on a House committee
blocked a previously scheduled bid by Democrats to boost Am-
trak’s funding. A proposed GOP transportation bill would instead
cut Amtrak’s budget by $251 million.
Amtrak is in a sorry state, said Simon Van Zuylen-Wood in
NationalJournal.com. The government-owned company runs a fleet you want to fix Amtrak, the solution’s simple: Give it to a private
with an average age of nearly 30 years, and receives a federal sub-
sidy of just $1.4 billion a year—compared with the $8 billion the
U.K. gives its rail system and the $128 billion China spends. Amer-
ica’s only high-speed train “runs at an average of
68 miles per hour,” 100 mph slower than genu-
inely high-speed trains in Europe and Asia. Then
there are the crashes, which “are far too com-
mon,” said Steve Mollman in Qz.com. The Phila-
delphia derailment was the ninth this year alone.
Blame Republicans, said Aviva Shen in Think
Progress.org. Even as Amtrak ridership has in-
creased by 50 percent in the past 15 years, con-
servative lawmakers “have proposed massive cuts to Amtrak’s bud-
get virtually every chance they get.” If Congress continues to ignore
America’s crumbling rail infrastructure, expect only “more dysfunc-
tion and more breakdowns in the system.”
“Amtrak has a lot of problems,” said Sean Davis in TheFederalist
.com. “A lack of taxpayer generosity is not one of them.” Federal
taxpayers “dump over a billion dollars each year” into the com-
pany—money that should be spent on infrastructure, but is more
often used to cover Amtrak’s salary costs and pension losses. If
company “that actually knows what it’s doing.”

Jeb’s muddled message on Iraq
Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush was forced into dam-
age control this week over comments he made in support of his
brother George’s controversial decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Fox
News anchor Megyn Kelly asked Bush, “Knowing what we know
now, would you have authorized the invasion?” to which the for-
mer Florida governor responded, “I would have, and so would
have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody, and so would
have almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence
they got.” Liberal and conservative commentators alike criticized
the candidate’s response, prompting Bush to clarify. “I interpreted
the question wrong, I guess,” Bush told Fox’s Sean Hannity the
next day. “I was talking about, given what people knew then.”
How could Bush “make such a rookie mistake?” asked The
Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Faulty intelligence or no, “it
is difficult to deny that the consequence of invading Iraq was
catastrophic.” Should he win the Republican nomination, Bush
has now succeeded in turning one of Hillary Clinton’s chief
weaknesses—namely her initial vote in support of the war and
her subsequent flip-flop—“into a comparative strength.”
This is just the latest example of Bush’s “shortcomings as a can-
didate,” said Jennifer Rubin in WashingtonPost.com. Many on
the Right are “openly antagonistic toward him,” and his mishan-
dling of this essential—and easily anticipated—question shows
that he “still lacks the aggressive, feisty tone and clarity many
conservatives are looking for.”
Bush is “right that most leading figures in both parties supported
the war at the time,” said Jonathan Tobin in Commentary
Magazine.com. But by defending the decision to go into Iraq,
and proudly asserting that he relies on his brother for foreign pol-
icy advice, Bush has made it easier for Democrats to run “against
the former president, rather than having to defend the records of
Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.” More Republicans are proba-
bly thinking that “nominating Jeb may not be such a hot idea.”

THE WEEK
You read it here first. Investigative reporter Sy Hersh has an Editor-in-chief: William Falk
Managing editors: Theunis Bates, Carolyn O’Hara
anonymous source who’s contradicting the official story about the Deputy editor/International: Susan Caskie
Deputy editor/Arts: Chris Mitchell Senior editors: Harry
killing of Osama bin Laden (see Talking Points), but my anonymous Byford, Alex Dalenberg, Brendan O’Connor, Hallie Stiller,
Jon Velez-Jackson, Frances Weaver
source—a former top, top senior adviser to an extremely high-ranking official—insists that both Art director: Dan Josephs Photo editor: Loren Talbot
Copy editors: Jane A. Halsey, Jay Wilkins
Sy and the government are wrong. Bin Laden, I am told, was actually an animatronic creation Chief researcher: Dale Obbie Researcher: Christina Colizza
Contributing editors: Ryan Devlin, Bruno Maddox
of the CIA, ordered up by Bill Clinton to distract Americans from the Lewinsky scandal. Dick EVP, sales: Tim Koorbusch VP, sales: Molly Bechert VP,
Cheney pulled the mechanical monster out of storage to justify the invasions of Afghanistan and marketing: Tara Mitchell Ad director, East Coast: John
Guehl N.Y. directors: Molly Hollister, Lisa Isoldi
Iraq and gin up some business for Halliburton. Barack Obama had the robot “killed” to make N.Y. managers: Albert Neudeck, Abby Sharpe Detroit
director: Don Schulz Midwest director: Erin Sesto
himself look tough on terrorism. I know: This is something of a shock. But when the veil of gov- Northwest account directors: William Murray, Steve
Thompson Southeast director: Ed Kobylus
ernment propaganda is lifted, you see the world as it truly is—filled with diabolical conspiracies. Southwest director: Matt Estrada Integrated marketing
manager: Adam Clement Research and insights
Speaking of which: After Obama declares martial law in Texas (see Talking Points), my manager: Joan Cheung Promotions manager: Jennifer
Castellano Marketing coordinator: Jessica Estremera
sources tell me, he plans to seize not only all the guns but all the brisket too. He’s already told Digital director: Garrett Markley Senior digital
account manager: Yuliya Spektorsky
his cronies in Chicago to expect a shipment of a few thousand tons of barbecue. Michelle Chief financial officer: Kevin E. Morgan
Obama will be installed as the Food Czar, and will require all Texans to eat nothing but arugula Director of financial reporting: Arielle Starkman
EVP, consumer marketing: Sara O’Connor
and kale. Same-sex marriage will not only be legalized, it will become mandatory. Naturally, Associate circulation director: Peter Corbett
Digital and print production director: Sean Fenlon
sharia law will be instituted; listening to Rush Limbaugh will bring 100 lashes, while watching Production manager: Kyle Christine Darnell
HR/operations manager: Joy Hart
Fox News will be punished by stoning. How can you tell if all this is true? The government and Advisers: Robert G. Bartner, Peter Godfrey
Chairman: John M. Lagana
the mainstream media deny it. Of course they do. Do you need any further proof? U.K. founding editor: Jolyon Connell
William Falk Company founder: Felix Dennis
AP

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4 NEWS Controversy of the week
Surveillance: Is the NSA’s ‘metadata’ program too intrusive?
America lost its mind in the panicky aftermath plete historical archive of phone records, said The
of 9/11, said Steve Chapman in Reason.com, but Wall Street Journal in an editorial. “You can’t con-
there are finally signs that “sanity is making a nect the dots without, well, dots.”
comeback.” Last week, a federal appeals court
ruled that the National Security Agency’s once If this program is so vital, said Noah Feldman in
secret program to collect data on the phone BloombergView.com, Congress should authorize
calls of all Americans is illegal. Defenders of it explicitly. Until Snowden blew his whistle,
the program—which was exposed by NSA not even members of Congress knew about
whistleblower Edward Snowden—had claimed the program. However well-intentioned,
it was authorized by the 2001 Patriot Act, Now collecting everyone’s phone records “secret laws are anathema to democracy.”
which lets intelligence services seize “any tan- A proposed bill called the USA Freedom Act
gible thing” with “relevance” to a counterterrorism investigation. would allow the NSA to search the nation’s phone metadata, said
The NSA twisted that language to include not only the phone Fred Kaplan in Slate.com, but first it would need a warrant from
records of suspected terrorists but also records of every phone a judge. Most importantly, the data would be stored by the phone
call made by everyone in the country. The court stopped short of companies—not the government. That sensible precaution would
shutting down the metadata program, said Andrea Peterson in make it much harder for “some modern-day Richard Nixon or J.
WashingtonPost.com, but only because the relevant clause in the Edgar Hoover” to exploit the system and spy on political enemies.
Patriot Act is due to expire on June 1 anyway. The judges said
they’d defer to Congress, which is now hotly debating “the future Please spare me the hand-wringing of civil libertarians, said L.
of government spying.” Gordon Crovitz in The Wall Street Journal. Is it really so intrusive
to have phone records stored in NSA computers when private
This would be a terrible time to tie the government’s hands, companies such as Google and Facebook are collecting, mining,
said Fred Fleitz in NationalReview.com. After two ISIS-inspired and selling “staggering amounts of information” about every one
American jihadists tried last week to shoot up a “Draw of us on a daily basis? In the era of Big Data, the agencies that pro-
Muhammad” competition in Texas, FBI director James Comey tect us from terrorists should have access to the same tools as the
warned that ISIS has contacted “hundreds, maybe thousands” of companies that sell us products. You vastly underestimate the NSA,
potential jihadists in the U.S. through social media. So Congress said James Bamford in Reuters.com. Snowden revealed the agency
needs to “think long and hard” before it scraps or weakens the is also mapping every Internet connection—cellphones, laptops,
NSA’s metadata-collection program. Remember: The NSA doesn’t tablets—“of everyone on the planet,” and has spied on porn sites
listen in to our phone calls. It merely collects data on when calls so as to discredit “radicalizers” who use them. Do you really want
are placed and to whom, for the sole purpose of uncovering ter- to trust this agency with a blank check? Far too many of us have
rorist networks. That task is only possible if the NSA has a com- come to accept “highly intrusive surveillance as the new normal.”

Only in America Good week for: Boring but important

QA California sales executive
claims her former employer
rebuked and then fired her for
removing a tracking app from
her cellphone that monitored
her whereabouts 24/7. In a
lawsuit, Myrna Arias claims
that her manager openly
admitted he was using the
Xora app to track her when
she was off duty and even
“bragged that he knew how
fast she was driving.”
QA black man from Detroit
who’d saved $16,000 in hopes
of starting his own music-
video business had his money
seized by DEA agents on the
suspicion that it was drug-
related. Joseph Rivers, 22, was
traveling by train to Los Ange-
les when agents searched his
luggage and seized the cash.
“We don’t have to prove that
the person is guilty,” a DEA
agent explained. “The money
is presumed to be guilty.”
The Windy City, after Barack Obama announced that his future
presidential library will be located on Chicago’s South Side. “All Fight over Iran bill
Days after the Senate passed
the strands of my life came together, and I really became a man,
when I moved to Chicago,” Obama said. bipartisan legislation that
allows lawmakers to review
Civility, after a study found that public approval of the U.S. any nuclear deal with Iran, the
Congress has risen and fallen over 18 years in correlation to the bill came under threat from
members’ political rhetoric, with the use of words like “tolerate, House Republicans demand-
trust, and cooperate” leading directly to increases in popularity. ing that it be strengthened.
The current legislation, which
The male ego, after a British survey found that the average man
passed 98-1 in the Senate,
looks at himself in the mirror 23 times a day, compared with 16
times for women. Men like to “admire” their appearance, research- would allow Congress to pass
a resolution of disapproval on
ers found, while women simply make sure “they look OK.”
the final nuclear agreement
Bad week for: President Obama makes with
Iran if the lawmakers oppose
Greener grass, after aerial photographs revealed that estates
it. Senate Majority Leader
owned by Barbara Streisand, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, and Mitch McConnell refused to al-
Kanye West still boasted green lawns and lush gardens despite water low Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
restrictions imposed during the worst drought in California history. and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to
Pit stops, after passengers on a three-hour Ryanair flight from add amendments—including
Murcia, Spain, to London were informed upon takeoff that the one requiring Iran to support
plane had no toilet paper on board. “Everyone had horrified Israel’s right to exist—for fear
looks on their faces,” one passenger reported. it would push Obama to veto
the bill. The House Freedom
Self-indulgence, after a government watchdog group reported Caucus said dozens of House
that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spent nearly all of his $360,000 Republicans were ready to
state expense allowance on food and alcohol over the past five fight for those amendments.
years, including over $82,000 on concessions at MetLife stadium.
AP

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 The U.S. at a glance ...
San Francisco
Racism probe: San Francisco’s top pros-
ecutor announced last week that at least
3,000 arrests in
the past decade
were under review
as part of a grow-
ing police scandal
sparked by racist
text messages alleg-
edly sent by up
to 14 of the city’s
officers. District
Attorney George
Gascón
Gascón said three
retired judges are examining every arrest
made by those officers and investigat-
ing whether there is a “culture of bias”
within the city’s police department. The
text messages were discovered during
a separate investigation into Sgt. Ian
Furminger, who exchanged texts with fel-
low officers in which they referred to one
black man as a “monkey” and
wrote, “All n-----s must f---ing
hang.” The city’s police chief is
expected to recommend that
six of the officers be fired;
another two have resigned.
Surveying the damage in Van
Van, Texas, and Nashville, Ark.
Deadly tornadoes: At least five people
were killed this week when a band of
more than 70 tornadoes ripped its way
through the Midwest, flattening schools
and blowing the windows out of dozens
of buildings. One twister with wind
speeds of 140 mph pummeled the east-
ern Texas town of Van, leveling up to
100 homes and killing retired detective
David Tapley, 60, and wife Brenda, 62.
The couple were found lying near their
destroyed home, with their dog—still
alive—curled up in the former officer’s
arms. In Nashville, Ark., where tornado
winds clocked 125 mph, Michael and
Melissa Mooneyhan died while shield-
ing their baby daughter inside their
trailer park home. The 18-month-old
was found alive near their bodies. “It’s
Getty, AP (3)
a miracle that little girl survived,” said
Howard County Coroner John Gray.
Madison, Wis.
Police shooting: Activists vowed to stage
protests in Madison this week after
officials announced that a police officer
won’t face charges for the fatal shoot-
ing of an unarmed biracial teen. Tony
Robinson, 19, was shot in March dur-
ing a confrontation with Officer Matt
Kenny, who was responding to three
911 calls claiming Robinson was running
in the street and attacking pedestrians.
Kenny chased Robinson into a nearby
apartment block, and the pair struggled
in a building’s stairwell. Dane County
District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said
that Kenny feared for his life after being
punched in the head by Robinson—who
had mushrooms, THC, and Xanax in
his bloodstream—and that the officer’s
decision to shoot Robinson in the head,
torso, and right arm was a “lawful use of
deadly force.” Robinson’s grandmother
said the decision not to prosecute was
based on “politics, not justice.”
Lake Mary, Fla.
Road rage: George Zimmerman was
hospitalized this week after a road rage
shooting in Lake Mary, Fla. The former
volunteer neighborhood watchman was
driving through the Orlando suburb when
suspect Matthew Apperson, who last
September claimed to have been threat-
ened by Zimmerman in a separate road
rage incident, allegedly fired once into the
passenger-side window of Zimmerman’s
truck. The bullet lodged in the door frame
of the truck, and Zimmerman’s face was
injured by shattered glass. Apperson,
36, reportedly told witnesses “he had
to shoot” because Zimmerman, who
was also armed, had waved his gun at
him. The incident is the latest of several
brushes with the law that Zimmerman
has had since his controversial 2013
acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon
Martin; two involved allegations of
domestic violence, though charges were
dropped on both occasions.
NEWS 5
New York City
Patz mistrial: After
weeks of jury delibera-
tion, a Manhattan
judge declared a
mistrial in the
notorious mur-
der case of
Etan Patz—a
Sirois: Lone holdout
6-year-old
boy who disappeared in New York City
in 1979 during his walk to school. Patz
was one of the first missing children to
appear on the side of a milk carton, and
his disappearance had been shrouded
in mystery for 33 years—until police
shockingly announced in 2012 that
local bodega worker Pedro Hernandez
had confessed to choking Patz and put-
ting his body in the trash. Hernandez’s
attorney argued his client was schizo-
phrenic and had made the whole thing
up. Eleven jurors were ready last week
to declare Hernandez guilty of murder,
but lone juror No. 8—later
revealed as Adam Sirois—said
Hernandez’s video confession
was too “bizarre” to warrant
a guilty verdict. “I couldn’t find
enough evidence that was not
circumstantial to convict,” Sirois said
after the mistrial.
Hattiesburg, Miss.
Cop killings: Just days after the funeral
of a fallen police officer in New York
City, two Mississippi police officers were
fatally shot during a routine traffic stop
in Hattiesburg. Officer Benjamin Deen,
34, had
reportedly
stopped a
vehicle for a
speeding vio-
lation, and
when recent
police acad-
emy gradu-
Officers attending a vigil
ate Liquori
Tate, 24, responded to Deen’s call for
backup, the two were shot dead. Police
did not offer full details of the attack.
Marvin Banks, 29, has been charged
with two counts of capital murder as
well as grand theft auto and felony
possession of a firearm. His girlfriend,
brother, and another man were charged
with various counts, including accessory
after the fact and obstruction of justice.
Mary Smith, the mother of suspects
Marvin and Curtis Banks, has claimed
her sons were on “pills” when the shoot-
ing occurred.
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
6 NEWS The world at a glance ...
London
Moving away from Europe: Fresh off its win in last week’s
elections, David Cameron’s new Conservative government
took its first step to distance itself from the European Union,
pledging to repeal a law that creates a formal link between
British courts and the European Court of Human Rights.
Now armed with a parliamentary majority, Conservatives say
they will make good on a campaign pledge to replace the 1998
Human Rights Act with a new British Bill of Rights. The change
is intended to allow the U.K. to bypass the EU court, which has
irritated Cameron with rulings like barring the deportation of ter-
rorist suspects to countries that might practice torture and over-
turning a British law banning prisoners from voting. Cameron
has promised to hold a nationwide referendum by 2016 on
whether Great Britain should remain a member of the EU.
Geneva
No offensive disease names: The World Health
Organization issued new guidelines forbidding
the use of place and animal namesakes when
naming new diseases. Under the guidelines,
monikers like “Lyme disease” (taken from a
Not behind swine flu Connecticut town), “Ebola” (a Congo river),
“mad cow,” and “monkey pox” would
be discouraged. WHO said such names can lead to the pointless
slaughter of animals, lost tourism, and discrimination. Swine flu,
for example, was not transmitted by pigs, but some countries
banned pork imports during a recent outbreak; Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome hurt tourism to the entire region. Infectious
disease specialists were skeptical. “This document is laudable in its
intent,” said “bird flu” expert John Oxford, “but slightly daft.”

Havana
French president visits:
Accompanied by French busi-
ness leaders eager to clinch deals,
French President François Hollande this
week became the first Western European
leader to visit Cuba in decades. Hollande
met with President Raul Castro and his
brother Fidel, and called for the lifting
of the U.S. trade embargo. That would
Hollande and Castro
allow French drink company Pernod
Ricard, which distributes Cuba’s Havana Club rum, to sell the
rum in the U.S. market. “I hope all the measures that have harmed
Cuba’s development can now be finally lifted,” Hollande said.

Guatemala City
Veep resigns amid scandal: Guatemalan Vice
President Roxana Baldetti resigned after her former
private secretary was accused of running a scheme to
defraud the state of millions of dollars. The sec-
retary, Juan Carlos Monzón Rojas, who remains
at large, is alleged to have taken massive bribes
from importers in exchange for lowering their
customs duties. Baldetti has not been charged, Baldetti: Out
but her proximity to the scandal has raised sus-
picions, and prosecutors have asked her not to leave the country.
The fraud scheme was uncovered by a panel of international
prosecutors who have been working with Guatemalan justice
officials to root out endemic corruption.

Bogotá, Colombia
Coca eradication halted: Colombia stopped its program to
destroy illegal coca crops from the air, cit-
ing World Health Organization findings
that the herbicide glyphosate is “prob-
ably carcinogenic.” Over the past two
decades, more than 4 million acres have
been sprayed with the weed killer, the
main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup,
in a U.S.-sponsored program. Colombian
researchers have found an increase in
miscarriages in the sprayed regions. Peru
and Bolivia send workers into coca fields
Asunción, Paraguay
Child forced to bear child: The
Paraguayan government’s refusal to
allow a 10-year-old rape victim to get an
abortion sparked a rare public demonstra-
tion. Paraguay bans abortion in all cases
Protesting in the capital
except to save a woman’s life, and the
government declined to make an exception for the girl, who was
raped by her stepfather. Hundreds of Paraguayans marched in the
capital in protest, and U.N. human rights experts condemned the
Corbis (3), AP, Getty

in their countries to rip out the plants by government. “The Paraguayan authorities’ decision results in grave
hand, but Colombia resorted to aerial violations of the rights to life, to health, and to the physical and
spraying because armed FARC rebels mental integrity of the girl,” a U.N. panel said. The girl is now five
Deadly weed killer? guard the Colombian fields. months pregnant, and her mother is in prison for child neglect.

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 The world at a glance ... NEWS 7
Sochi, Russia Kathmandu, Nepal
Kerry reaches out: Eight hours of high-level Huge aftershock: Nepal was hit
talks this week between U.S. Secretary of with another major earthquake this
State John Kerry and Russian leaders pro- week that killed dozens, just two
duced little progress on Ukraine, Syria, weeks after a massive quake killed
Iran, and other areas of disagreement some 8,000 people and caused
between the two countries. Kerry met for widespread damage. The second
No breakthroughs more than four hours each with Russian quake—magnitude 7.3 compared
President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to with the first one’s 7.8—was cen-
discuss the ongoing fighting in Ukraine—where Russia has been tered northeast of Kathmandu Searching for victims
arming separatists—as well as Russia’s delivery of weapons to Iran and caused landslides that blocked
and its support for the Syrian regime. But while the leaders dis- roads, further hindering the delivery of aid to victims. “Some
played softer rhetoric, relations remain tense. The Russian Foreign [villages] are even difficult to reach by helicopter,” said U.N. offi-
Ministry issued a statement saying, “We aren’t to blame for the cial Jamie McGoldrick. “We are facing a monumental challenge
current crisis in relations with Washington,” adding, “Russia will here.” International donors have been slow to respond to the cri-
not be forced to compromise on its national interests.” sis; so far, only 15 percent of the aid requested has been pledged.
The U.S. has sent more than 300 Marine Corps and Air Force
troops to deliver food; a helicopter carrying six Marines went
missing the day the second quake struck.

Pyongyang, North Korea

Defense chief executed: North Korea’s defense minister
was executed by anti-aircraft gun in front of hundreds
of people at a military academy, South Korean intel-
ligence said this week. Hyon Yong Chol was charged
with treason for disobeying dictator Kim Jong Un
and falling asleep during a meeting. Hyon, who
had reportedly voiced criticisms of Kim and
Killed for dozing angered the leader several times by not follow-
ing his orders, is just the latest of some 70 officials to be executed
since Kim succeeded his father in 2011. North Korea said this
week it successfully tested an underwater missile, paving the way
for submarine-launched nukes.

Tal Afar, Iraq

ISIS No. 2 reported killed: Iraqi authorities announced this week
that the acting leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has been
killed in an airstrike. Abu Alaa al-Afri was said to have recently
taken over ISIS after the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
was severely injured in an earlier airstrike. Just a week ago, the
U.S. State Department offered a $7 million reward for information
that would bring al-Afri to justice, and it may have borne fruit.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry said al-Afri was killed because the U.S.-
led coalition had precise intelligence that he and other ISIS leaders
would be at a certain mosque in Tal Afar for a meeting.

Karachi, Pakistan
Terrorists on bus: Six gunmen
boarded a bus in Karachi and
opened fire on Ismaili Shiites,
Bujumbura, Burundi killing at least 45. “One of
Nkurunziza President deposed? Burundi army them shouted, ‘Kill them all!’” a
officers say they have ousted President Pierre Nkurunziza after wounded woman told Pakistani
three weeks of protests over his attempt to run for an illegal third TV. “Then they started indis-
term. Violence between the president’s supporters and opponents criminately firing at everyone they
has rocked the capital, with at least one activist burned alive saw.” The Sunni militant group Mourning the dead
by a mob and tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes. Jundullah, affiliated with the
Burundi, which neighbors Rwanda, emerged just 10 years ago Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility, saying it considered the
from a 12-year civil war between Hutus and Tutsis. Nkurunziza minority Ismaili sect to be non-Muslims. “In the coming days
has been president ever since and has routinely oppressed we will attack Ismailis, Shiites, and Christians,” said spokes-
the opposition. Nkurunziza was away in Tanzania this week man Ahmed Marwat. Vowing to find those responsible, Prime
AP (4), Newscom

for a meeting when former intelligence chief Gen. Godefroid Minister Nawaz Sharif said Ismailis were “a very patriotic and
Niyombare announced his ouster, saying army officers and civil peaceful people,” and he condemned any attempt “to spread divi-
and religious leaders would form a transitional government. sions in the country.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

8 NEWS People
Richie’s longevity secret
Lionel Richie is one of the music industry’s
survivors, said Adrian Deevoy in the Mail on
Sunday (U.K.). The 65-year-old pop singer, who
has sold more than 100 million records, is still
performing and writing songs, years after many
of his famous friends succumbed to drug addic-
tion, personal chaos, and financial ruin. “This
business is designed to kill you,” says Richie.
“Elvis had a roomful of his close friends downstairs while he died
upstairs. If you’ve got a drug problem, they’re just waiting for
you to die.” Richie’s good friend Michael Jackson was a case in
point. “There was something seriously wrong with Michael,” he
says. “But you have to understand that this is Hollywood. In Des
Moines, you’d get locked up; in Hollywood it’s just another day.
So if you want to employ staff to look after your chimpanzees and
your giraffes, then that’s perfectly normal.” Richie attributes some
of his vitality to girlfriend Lisa Parigi, a former model half the
singer’s age. Dating younger women has its pros and cons, he says.
“The upside is that you’ll never, ever be unhip. They keep you cur-
rent. The downside is that you’ll mention names like Fleetwood
Mac and the Eagles and they’ll say, ‘Who’s that?’ Their point of
reference is the cellphone.”

The man inside Big Bird

When Caroll Spinney landed the role of Big Bird in 1969, he never
imagined he’d still be doing it 45 years later, said Moya Sarner in
The Guardian (U.K.). But at the ripe old age of 81, Spinney still
regularly dons the big yellow suit to play one of the nation’s most
beloved characters on PBS’s Sesame Street. Spinney has been fas-
cinated with puppets since he was 8 years old. “I collected some
scrap wood and built myself a puppet theater,” says Spinney. “I
made 32 cents with my first show. That’s when I knew I would be
a puppeteer when I grew up.” Today, he operates a more sophis-
ticated puppet: Inside Big Bird, Spinney places his right arm up
the bird’s neck; his right hand moves its head and his little finger
controls the eyebrows. “I can’t see anything outside the suit when
I’m in it, so I wear a little monitor strapped to my chest, which
shows me what the viewers see at home.” As Big Bird, Spinney has
lived the life of a global superstar. He has met eight first ladies and
sung with legends Michael Jackson and Ray Charles. “But I don’t
think it’s changed me,” Spinney says. “Perhaps the show keeps me
young—I’m still playing a 6-year-old even though I’m 81. I guess
that makes me the world’s oldest child star.”
Melissa without Joan
Melissa Rivers is lost without her mother, said Amy Kaufman in
the Los Angeles Times. Throughout her professional career, Rivers,
47, played the straight woman to comedian mom Joan, and their
act grew into a franchise that included the popular red-carpet TV
show Fashion Police. “We were Joan and Melissa,” says Rivers.
“You knew what you were getting when you heard ‘Joan and
Melissa.’” But then Joan died after a throat procedure last August,
leaving Melissa to go it alone. She has spent the intervening year
holed up in her Los Angeles home, trying to figure out what to
do next. “I was part of a comedy team, and I’m a straight man.
It’s going to take me some time to find my voice.” Rivers still has
days where she locks herself in her closet and cries. But then she
imagines her notoriously feisty mom telling her to suck it up and
put on some lipstick. “Everyone knows you’re grieving,” Rivers
says, mimicking her mother. “You don’t need to look like [crap].”
Her mom would never stand for wallowing in grief, says Rivers.
“Please! I’d have to put a lightning rod on this house to make sure
she wasn’t throwing lightning bolts at me to get out of bed.”

QAfter months of tension, ESPN has
announced it won’t be renewing the
contract of outspoken commentator
Bill Simmons when it expires at
the end of September. The popu-
lar sports personality has a re-
ported salary of $5 million a year
and was demanding $6 million.
rights to televise games. Simmons’ 14-year
career at the network came to an end after
he again publicly blasted Goodell—this time
questioning the commissioner’s “testicular
fortitude” over the league’s Deflategate
scandal. ESPN insider James Miller said the
comments were the final straw for network
executives. “It was just too much kerosene
on the fire,” said Miller.
QWannabe princesses around the world are
now.” Harry’s most serious relationship was
with Chelsy Davy, who reportedly ended
things in 2010 because she couldn’t handle
life in the limelight.
QChris Brown’s birthday celebrations came
to an abrupt end when the singer arrived
back at his Los Angeles home to find the
place trashed and a naked woman he did
not know lying on his bed, says TMZ.com.
Amira Kodcia Ayeb, 21, has been charged
Daniel Zuchnik/FilmMagic/Getty, Corbis, Getty

His penchant for outrageous com-
ments and criticism of his bosses
had soured his relationship
with the network; in 2014, Simmons was
suspended for three weeks after calling NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell “a liar” during
a discussion about the league’s handling of
the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal. ESPN
pays the NFL close to $2 billion a year for
on red alert now that Prince Harry has re-
vealed he is ready to get married and have
some royal babies. Speaking during his tour
of New Zealand, the 30-year-old British royal
admitted he envies his older brother, Prince
William, for having settled down and started
a family. “It would be great to have some-
one else next to me to share the pressure,”
said Harry. “I would love to have kids right
with stalking, burglary, and vandalism for
allegedly breaking into Brown’s house
while he was away celebrating in Las
Vegas. Over a period of a few days, Ayeb
allegedly spray-painted her name on
Brown’s cars and “I love you” on his walls,
and climbed onto Brown’s bed to await his
arrival. “I love my fans,” said Brown, “but
this is some real crazy s---.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 Briefing NEWS 9

Ending the Ebola epidemic

Last year, a devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed thousands. Today, the disease is under control.

Is the crisis over? Did the U.S. military help?

Not yet, but the signs are good in all Forbidden by the Pentagon from work-
three afflicted countries. Liberia was ing directly with patients, the troops
officially declared free of Ebola last sent to Liberia focused on building
week, after 42 days with no new cases, treatment centers. But by the time they
while Guinea and Sierra Leone together finished the first U.S.-supported clinic
recorded just 18 new infections the in November, infection rates were
week before last—the lowest total this already in significant decline. In total,
year. By comparison, at the peak of the the 11 clinics they built treated just 28
outbreak last fall, the deadly disease Ebola patients; nine centers haven’t had
was infecting about 400 people a week a single case. Jeremy Konyndyk, who
in Liberia alone. So although the death headed the Ebola response for the U.S.
toll keeps climbing—it has now passed Agency for International Development,
11,000, with 26,628 total cases—the Sierra Leone officials checking for signs of the disease insists the abundance of caution was
worst seems to be over. The Pentagon warranted. “You don’t know where
has pulled out all but 100 of the 2,800 troops sent to assist the the fire is going to break out,” he says, “but you’re going to need
authorities in the region, and health officials are hoping to identify a fire station there when it does.” U.S. troops also helped in other
and isolate all remaining cases in the region before the rainy sea- ways, training hundreds of health-care workers and airlifting sup-
son begins in June. As one U.S. military official put it: “We got a plies and medical teams around the region.
handle on Ebola a lot quicker than anyone expected.”
What’s next for the countries affected?
Was the danger exaggerated? If Sierra Leone and Guinea join Liberia in becoming Ebola free,
Some of the warnings by public officials seem, in retrospect the first priority will be rebuilding their shattered health-care sys-
at least, overstated. In September, the U.S. Centers for Disease tems. The epidemic not only killed an astonishing 10 percent of
Control and Prevention estimated Ebola could infect as many the countries’ health-care workers but also sucked up pretty much
as 1.4 million people; Jeffrey Hawkins, the U.S. consul general every available medical resource. As a result, around 250,000
in Nigeria, warned of the possibility of an “apocalyptic urban children across the region missed out on basic vaccinations, rais-
outbreak.” When President Obama asked Congress for $6 billion ing the specter of an outbreak of measles or another disease. The
in funding to help combat the disease, he called the epidemic a threat of Ebola, meanwhile, will always remain; the virus lurks in
“national security priority.” But although the doomsaying may infected bats and other animals, which can spread it to humans.
seem excessive now, it did focus the world’s attention on a disas- But if there’s another outbreak, West Africa will undoubtedly be
ter that was threatening to spiral out of control. It was the worst much, much better prepared to respond.
Ebola outbreak in history, killing five times more people than all
previous Ebola epidemics combined. How about the rest of the world?
The World Health Organization (WHO), which was heavily
How was it contained? criticized for its lackluster initial response, has warned that the
By educating West Africans on how Ebola is transmitted, and world is ill prepared for another “large and sustained disease
by aggressive efforts to isolate and outbreak.” If Ebola ever gains a
treat the infected. When the out- The hunt for a vaccine foothold in China or India, where
break began 16 months ago, health There is one drawback to the containment of the population density is high and
care workers in Liberia, Guinea, Ebola: It may prevent scientists from developing the health-care infrastructure deeply
and Sierra Leone were initially fight- a vaccine. Outbreaks provide a rare chance to test inadequate, the death toll could
ing blind. Doctors and nurses had drugs that could help prevent future epidemics, be catastrophically high. But the
to learn from scratch how to treat but pharmaceutical companies have struggled to epidemic in West Africa has given
Ebola—the odds of survival dra- capitalize on the opportunity in West Africa. Of the health experts invaluable experience
matically increase with early, effec- three major clinical trials currently taking place, the for dealing with future outbreaks,
tive symptom management—and most scientifically rigorous began in Liberia, where and there are already plans for
how to contain it. Helped by more there has been only one new patient in the past establishing a global fast-response
than 10,000 volunteers from around couple of months. The other studies, in Guinea and team to prevent something similar
the world, health workers gradually Sierra Leone, fall short of the scientific gold stan- from happening again. The hardest
taught people to avoid unnecessary dard of being randomized and placebo-controlled, task may be sustaining enough inter-
physical contact, to go to a clinic the in part because some scientists object to giving est in the issue to ensure reforms
moment they displayed symptoms, placebos to anyone at risk from the deadly virus. are made. “Six months ago, the
Nevertheless, researchers remain upbeat. If there’s
and to forgo the traditional ritual world was worried,” says WHO’s
another outbreak, says Dr. David Nabarro, the
of washing corpses—a practice that Dr. Bruce Aylward. “There was a lot
U.N.’s special envoy on Ebola, scientists can launch
accelerated the spread of the disease. trials and drug production “at a push of a button,
of self-interest in making sure this
“The best way to fight Ebola,” says rather than having to invent a response in the heat thing was stopped. The biggest mis-
Joseph Boye Cooper, a volunteer of a crisis.” take the world could do right now
Getty

worker in Liberia, “is to prevent it.” is blink.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

10 NEWS Best columns: The U.S.
It may seem like a paradox, but Hillary Clinton is still winning, said
Why Hillary Frank Bruni. “Despite her email shenanigans, despite the ethical mud- It must be true...
is still dle known as the Clinton Foundation,” she continues to lead all Re-
publicans in presidential polls, beating Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio by
I read it in the tabloids
in front 6 points and Scott Walker by 10. How can this be? American voters
aren’t exactly shocked when politicians are accused of greed and ques-
QShowing up for a test
naked is among the most
Frank Bruni tionable scruples—but they are alarmed by the right-wing craziness common anxiety dreams. But
The New York Times tolerated by the Republican Party. The Republican presidential field is for students in the visual arts
full of “mad hatter” candidates such as Mike Huckabee, “a self-styled program at the University of
man of God” who insists the Bible should trump Supreme Court California, San Diego, taking
rulings, and Ben Carson, who has compared Obamacare to slavery. the final exam nude is actual-
Largely as a result of such craziness, just 29 percent of Americans now ly a course requirement. Pro-
view the GOP favorably. Voters who would “otherwise suffer bone- fessor Roberto Dominguez—
wearying Clinton fatigue” see Hillary as a more pragmatic and reli- who also removes his
clothing during the test—said
able option, especially since the next president will probably appoint
the naked display is part of
at least two Supreme Court justices. That last issue, in particular, “is his students’ exploration
the soil in which love for Hillary Clinton flowers.” of the “erotic self.” But one
student’s mom called the
“Why aren’t liberals offering Pamela Geller a federal subsidy?” asked nude final a “perversion,”
Blasphemy Jonah Goldberg. Geller, the activist who organized the “Draw Mu- adding, “I’m not sending her
to school for this.”
that isn’t hammad” exhibition in Texas last week, is being widely condemned
for “hate speech” that supposedly provoked Islamic radicals to attempt QA California DJ and entre-
preneur is pushing a new line
‘hate speech’ an armed attack on the event. Curious, isn’t it, that the outraged Left
hotly defended the right of self-styled “artists” to create works that of-
of clothing that will make ce-
lebrities “invisible”
Jonah Goldberg fended Christians—at taxpayer expense. In 1986, the National Endow- to prying pa-
NationalReview.com ment for the Arts paid $20,000 for Andreas Serrano’s “Piss Christ,” parazzi. Chris
in which a crucifix with Jesus’ image was immersed in a glass of urine. Holmes says
In 1989, public funds supported a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit featur- his cutting-
ing photos of sexual bondage and urine drinking. In 1996, a museum edge hoodies
in Brooklyn displayed a portrait of the Virgin Mary composed of por- and scarves
nographic pictures and elephant dung. Whenever conservatives have are made of
tried to cut off public funding for such art, liberal elites have freaked “retro-reflective
out, thundering that censorious prudes were trampling on the First material” that
Amendment. “Fascists!” they cried. Why, then, was Geller’s mockery becomes so bright when hit
of Islam in a different category? “The lesson is clear: Violence pays.” by a camera’s flashbulb that
the photo is overexposed,
and all other parts of the
Once a year, Americans honor mothers with Hallmark cards and flow- photo—including faces—
The great ers. But motherhood is “not a job America rewards,” said Ezra Klein. come out dark. Holmes said
his invisibility garments are
Mother’s Day Motherhood is rightly known “as the toughest job in the world,” with
moms working more than 100 hours a week, including nights, week- not just for celebrities. “Pretty
much everywhere you go,
hypocrisy ends, and holidays. About 70 percent of women doing this work now
also work outside the home. But unlike nearly every other country in everybody’s got their camera
out,” he said. “The clothing
Ezra Klein the Western world, the U.S. guarantees women no paid maternity leave is for everybody to get their
Vox.com whatsoever. Given that 40 percent of American moms are their house- consent back.”
hold’s primary earner, that leaves many mothers having to choose be-
QAn alleged bank robber
tween “spending a month with their newborn child or keeping a roof is contending he didn’t
over their child’s head.” Compare that with Sweden, where parents commit a crime because he
receive 480 paid days per child, split between moms and dads. To add politely asked the teller for
insult to injury, studies have shown moms face strong workplace dis- $150,000. Dominyk Antonio
crimination, with bosses and co-workers viewing them as less reliable Alfonseca used a note to
and less competent. Indeed, moms “face a 5 percent wage penalty for rob a Virginia Beach bank,
every child they have.” Flowers and cards are nice, but “if America re- asking for money and saying
ally valued mothers, we wouldn’t treat them like this.” he would “appreciate” if the
teller didn’t sound the alarm.
The 23-year-old aspiring
Viewpoint “It is wrong to call economics ‘the dismal science.’ Dismal, yes; science, rapper was quickly arrested
no. There are competing factions and schools of thought within the proper
after leaving the bank, but
sciences, of course, but the outsize role played by economic schools—from New Keynesians to
Austrians—is evidence of the corrupting influence of politics, which distorts economic analysis now insists that there was no
in both its weak form (simple political affiliation) and its strong form (servile political advo- robbery, since he didn’t use a
cacy). Policymakers should probably resign themselves to the reality that even the best econo- weapon and didn’t threaten
mists are not able to give them very much useful advice, that they are still hostage to Paul Valéry’s the teller. “She could have
conundrum: ‘Everything simple is false. Everything complex is unusable.’” said ‘no,’” Alfonseca said,
Betabrand

Kevin Williamson in NationalReview.com “and I could have left.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 The World’s
Greatest Churches
Taught by Professor William R. Cook
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT GENESEO
TIME O
ED F LECTURE TITLES
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1. The Earliest Churches

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2. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
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4
RD 5. Great Churches of Russia

E
E R BY J UN 6. The Painted Churches of Romania
7. The Churches of Armenia
8. The Churches of Georgia
9. The Rock-Hewn Churches of Ethiopia
10. The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba
11. The Stave Churches of Norway
12. The Pilgrimage Church of Sainte-Foy
13. The Cathedral of Monreale
14. Chartres Cathedral
15. Winchester Cathedral
16. The Cathedral of Siena
17. St. Peter’s Basilica
18. The Wieskirche in Bavaria
19. La Compañía and Las Lajas Sanctuary
20. Guadalupe and the Cathedral
of Mexico City
21. Four Great American Churches
22. La Sagrada Família
23. Iceland’s Hallgrímskirkja
24. Two Churches in Seoul, Korea

An Enthralling Tour of
Churches around the World
The great churches of Christianity represent some of the world’s most
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In the 24 visually dazzling lectures of The World’s Greatest
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12 NEWS Best columns: Europe
These desperate migrants crossing the Mediter-
NETHERLANDS ranean, struggling to reach the safety of Europe,
are my family 70 years ago, said Frans Weisglas.
Europeans World War II sent thousands of Europeans, in-
cluding Jews like my mother, scrambling across
were once borders to safety. My mother wrote a book about
her journey from German-occupied Netherlands
refugees through Belgium and France to the safety of neu-
tral Switzerland. She was safe, and I grew up to
Frans Weisglas
become head of the Dutch parliament. Yet what
Trouw
if the Swiss had refused her shelter? “It is distress-
ing how many similarities there are” between my
mother’s story and those of the Syrians and Afri-
cans “fleeing violence, oppression, and discrimina-
tion.” Now, as we do every May, we celebrate the
end of the war, and we “celebrate our freedom.”
Are we to do so by barring the door against those
who have no freedom? Some of the most suppos-
edly patriotic Dutch, who speak so proudly of
our resistance during the war, are the very same
who also call asylum seekers criminals. The les-
son we should draw from World War II is not just
the value of resistance but also the imperative of
compassion. The Netherlands is now a wealthy
democracy. We owe it to our own history to be
“open and welcoming” to the less fortunate.

GERMANY I am the infamous “headscarf teacher,” said
Fereshta Ludin. An Afghan woman who has
A feminist lived in Germany since 1986, I successfully sued
in 2003 for the right to wear a simple Muslim
can wear head covering that shows my whole face while I
teach. Ever since, I have been pilloried as some
a headscarf kind of Islamic extremist, not only by right-wing
nationalists but also by German feminists. They
Fereshta Ludin
have spread “untruths, half-truths, and baseless
Frankfurter Allgemeine speculation about me.” One prominent feminist
Zeitung accused me of refusing to shake hands with men.
Another recently “mentioned me in the same
breath” as the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria, as if I were somehow responsible for
the recruitment of Germans to terrorism. These
slanders are disgusting and insulting. I am, in fact,
a strong believer in women’s rights. As a child,
I lived for a few years in Saudi Arabia, where
women are forced to cover themselves in black,
and I oppose that. “Were the headscarf a sign of
oppression, I would be the first to cast it aside.” I
choose to wear it, and I support the right of other
Muslim women to choose not to. Standing up for
women’s rights “doesn’t mean deciding what is
right for another woman.” Are you listening, Ger-
man feminists?

United Kingdom: Conservative at heart?

What a “personal triumph for David Cam- Of course the Tories want to believe
eron,” said Camilla Cavendish in The Sun- that there is now a Conservative
day Times. The Conservative Party prime resurgence across the land, said Mat-
minister defied all the polls and romped to thew d’Ancona in The Guardian. But
an outright victory in the election last week, they’re wrong. Thanks to the vagaries
the first Tory prime minister to do so in two of British apportioning, the Conserva-
decades. Voters clearly responded to Cam- tives may have a majority of seats, but
eron’s call to stay the course of the economic they took just 37 percent of the vote—
recovery as well as to his pledge to tackle hardly a landslide. Cameron does not
immigration. He now has “a clear mandate have a mandate to slash welfare or
to conduct a tough renegotiation with the privatize the National Health Service,
EU” and insist that Britain opt out of the and if he tries to do so, he could find
law that all EU citizens be allowed to live in his 12-seat majority “overturned by a
any EU country. It didn’t hurt, of course, that single surge of rebellious fury, or a big
A victorious Cameron faces challenges ahead.
Labor Party leader Ed Miliband led a clown- backbench sulk.”
ish campaign, inscribing his pledges on a huge stone monolith
and chasing the endorsement of comedian Russell Brand. Labor Cameron’s main task will be to hold his country together,
imploded in its stronghold of Scotland, where the Scottish Na- said Patrick Cockburn in The Independent. This election left
tional Party took 56 of 59 seats. Across the U.K., the Liberal Scotland dominated by separatists who want at least more au-
Democrats, the centrist party that governed in coalition with the tonomy and at most another referendum on independence. The
Tories, was all but annihilated, going from 57 seats to eight. Scottish no longer feel British, and they’re not the only ones.
Cameron won the election partly by countering Scottish na-
How did the polls get it so wrong? asked Janet Daley in The tionalism with an appeal to English nationalism. But what has
Daily Telegraph. Simple: The voters lied to the pollsters. In a he unleashed? That genie may now prove “difficult to put back
land dominated by leftist media like the BBC, which labels any- in the bottle.” Will Scotland secede, and will England then de-
one who questions the wisdom of unfettered immigration as a mand its own autonomy? We are now facing the likely death of
racist, conservatism has “become a matter for secret shame.” Great Britain “as a unitary state,” yet there was little mention
Yet the British are at heart conservative. They want the chance of such an outcome in all the debates and campaigns. Perhaps
to work and improve themselves without being dependent on we’re resigned to it: The breakup of the union would be “but
the state. So “when they reach the sacred solitude of the voting one more element in the decline of British power in the world
booth, they do what they know must be done.” over the past decade.”
Corbis

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 Best columns: International NEWS 13

How they see us: The growing U.S.-Saudi rift

The new Saudi king has performed quite plans. Forgive us if we need “written
the “snub” of President Obama, said guarantees” to that effect.
The Daily Star (Lebanon) in an edito-
rial. King Salman, the Saudi monarch The U.S. behaves as if only a nuclear
since January, had said he would attend Iran would be a threat, said Talal Al-
Obama’s summit with Gulf leaders at harbi in Arab News (Saudi Arabia).
Camp David this week, only to cancel at The fact is, Iran is already destabilizing
the last minute with a transparently thin enough without nuclear weapons. It
excuse. Such rude behavior would be has armed militants in Iraq, Syria, and
shocking even from an enemy, “let alone Yemen. Yet the U.S. negotiations with
a close ally.” But Obama “should have Iran address only its nuclear program
seen it coming.” The rift between Riyadh and not Iran’s hostile adventurism.
and Washington has been widening since Thank goodness for the leadership of
Obama took office. Faced with a rising Saudi Arabia, which has stepped up to
Did King Salman rebuff Obama?
Iran, Saudi Arabia needs a strong and battle Iran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen.
steadfast ally, yet it has found in Washington merely “a sales- King Salman has demonstrated, to Obama and the world, “that
man keen to sell its weapons systems to the region.” it would be dangerous to tamper with Saudi Arabia.” The U.S.
administration will see that “the Saudi sword has come out of
The Saudis and other Gulf allies just don’t trust the U.S. any- its sheath to uproot the Iranian-backed militias, and will not
more, said Salman Aldosary in Asharq Al-Awsat (U.K.). The return to it before achieving victory.”
Camp David summit was arranged to convince Arab states
that Obama’s deal with Iran won’t undermine their security. But there’s hope yet for the U.S.-Saudi relationship, said Joyce
But that’s going to be a tough sell. The U.S. has lost credibility Karam in Al-Arabiya (United Arab Emirates). King Salman has
by constantly changing course on crises in Egypt and Iraq, and appointed as his new foreign minister the former U.S. ambas-
Obama’s word has been suspect ever since he declared that sador Adel Al-Jubeir, graduate of Georgetown University and a
Syria’s use of chemical weapons would be “a red line” and then longtime Washington insider. It’s the first time a nonroyal has
stood idle as that line was crossed. Obama now wants to lift held the post, but the king apparently wanted someone with
sanctions on Iran, whose regime is “founded on hostility toward strong ties to the U.S. and “intimate knowledge of American
its Arabian Peninsula neighbors,” where it plants militant cells and Saudi politics.” Expect Saudi Arabia to pursue a “more
and stokes sectarian hatred. To reassure the Arab states, Obama proactive” foreign policy while still “maintaining its long-
is supposedly offering military cooperation and joint defense standing alliance with the United States.”

“It’s a rich man’s world,” said Abhishek Saha. It
INDIA took fully 13 years for Bollywood star Salman
Khan to be found guilty of a fatal hit-and-run.
A separate Khan was drunk and driving without a license
when his SUV hurtled onto the pavement where
justice for four homeless men were sleeping, killing one of
them. For years, as Khan’s lawyers did all they
Bollywood could to delay the trial, we were treated to the
spectacle of rich Bollywood celebrities standing
Abhishek Saha
by Khan, even “denigrating the homeless for
Hindustan Times
sleeping on that ill-fated pavement,” as if it were
their fault they were run over. Does Bollywood
even realize that there are 78 million homeless
people in India? Probably not, because “they are
the ones about whom no one talks—the unem-
ployed, poor, and ugly.” The rich don’t have to
see them, because their shacks and cardboard
boxes are “displaced to clean up cities before any
important event.” For a brief moment, Indians
thought justice might be done, when last week
Khan was sentenced to five years in prison. Just
two days later, though, a higher court suspended
the sentence, and Khan now walks free to star in
another wildly lucrative film. It’s sad proof that
“the rich and the powerful can flex muscles and
pull strings to evade the law.”

ISRAEL How did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
“crushing election victory” turn so quickly into
Netanyahu “a farce”? asked Sima Kadmon. When his Likud
Party came in a clear first in the March elections,
hamstrung by Netanyahu thought he would be able to make a
solid coalition of right-wing and Orthodox par-
his partners ties. But his former coalition partner Avigdor
Lieberman defected, over Netanyahu’s shameful
Sima Kadmon
concessions to the Orthodox to allow yeshiva
Ynetnews.com students to evade the draft and study almost no
secular subjects. As a result, Netanyahu now has
a majority of just one vote. Any member of the
Knesset who feels a momentary pique “will be
AP
able to disappear from the plenum during votes
and prevent bills from passing.” It won’t be Ne-
tanyahu who calls the shots in this government,
but the ultra-right-wing and Orthodox. There can
be no vision for governance. What we have now
is “a combination of narrow, sectorial interests”
that “couldn’t care less about the state’s best
interests.” It’s embarrassing for Netanyahu, who
called early elections expecting a big win, and it is
bad for Israel. Nobody expects this flimsy coali-
tion to last more than a few months, and then
it’s back to the polls. What a waste of money. “Is
that what we went to elections for?”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

14 NEWS
Noted
QA total of 51 U.S. law
enforcement officers were
killed in the line of duty in
2014, says the FBI—nearly
double the number, 27,
killed the year before. Forty-
six of those officers were
killed with guns, 10 of them
during routine traffic stops.
Slate.com
QThe five most popular
names for baby girls in
2014 were (in order) Emma,
Olivia, Sophia, Isabella, and
Ava, according to the U.S.
Social Security Administra-
tion. For boys, the most
popular were Noah, Liam,
Mason, Jacob, and William.
CNN.com
QThe graduating class of
2015 is the most indebted
in history, owing a total of
$56 billion in
student
loans.
About 71
percent
of college
students
graduat-
ing this
year took
out loans, at an average of
$35,051 each. In 1996, just
58 percent of students took
out loans, owing less than
$20,000 each at graduation.
Vox.com
QLake Mead, the main
reservoir on the Colorado
River, is now just 38 per-
cent full—lower than at any
time since it was filled in
the 1930s. If the lake sinks
lower still during summer
months, officials may cut
water allotments to Arizona
farmers by 50 percent.
Arizona Daily Star
QPentagon officials have
increased the threat level
at U.S. military bases to the
third-highest on a five-tier
scale, citing the growing
risk from home-grown
terrorists inspired by the
Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria. Bases are now at
“Force Protection Bravo,”
a level that indicates an
“increased and predictable
threat of terrorism.”
CNN.com
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
Talking points
Jade Helm: The plot to take over Texas
In July, dozens of Black Hawk helicopters will
swoop down on southwestern America, deposit-
ing special forces troops in Texas and six other
states, said Amy Davidson in
NewYorker.com. For the U.S.
military, the event marks the beginning
of Jade Helm 15, a routine train- Here come the black helicopters. powerful bureaucracies—the
ing exercise. But for a growing
number of paranoid conservatives in the Lone
Star State, it signifies something much more ter-
rifying: “a U.S. military takeover of Texas and
beyond.” Conspiracy theorists believe President
Obama is secretly plotting to seize Texas and other citizens feel “targeted and maligned.”
Republican-dominated states. “They’re moving
logistics in place for martial law,” Texan Bob Wells The levels of paranoia in Texas go far beyond
told a newspaper reporter. “It’s the same thing
that happened in Nazi Germany.” Unfortunately,
this crackpot theorizing isn’t “confined to the fur-
thest corner of the conspiratorial fever swamps,”
said Heather Digby Parton in Salon.com. Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott upped the hysteria by ordering
the State Guard to monitor the U.S. troops—citing the conspiracy theories about Jade Helm, with
his concern for Texans’ “constitutional rights.” It’s Gohmert saying, “Patriotic Americans have rea-
official: Anti-Washington derangement has “now
made it fully into the mainstream.”
OK, Obama isn’t going to invade Texas, said
David French in NationalReview.com. But you
can’t blame conservatives for feeling “a little
paranoid”—not when they’ve been bullied,
Immigration: Clinton throws down the gauntlet
Hillary Clinton just created “a nightmare for
the GOP,” said Raul Reyes in USA Today. In a
canny strategic move, the presumptive Demo-
cratic nominee last week announced her support
for a “full and equal path to citizenship” for the
estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants
in the U.S. She also promised to expand President
Obama’s controversial executive order blocking
the deportation of DREAMers—illegal immi-
grants brought here as kids—to include their
parents. With Hispanic votes likely to play a piv-
otal role in the 2016 election, Clinton is “daring
Republicans into a fight she knows she can win.”
Perhaps that’s why her announcement “left many
Republican rivals speechless,” said David Naka-
mura and Robert Costa in The Washington Post.
Front-runners Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Scott
Walker have all had to shift to the right on immi-
gration to curry favor with the base, but they’re
desperate to avoid alienating Latinos, who gave
several swing states to the Democrats in 2012.
Like President Obama, Clinton is “more inter-
ested in goading Republicans on immigration
than in actually fixing our broken system,” said
Linda Chavez in the New York Post. An amnesty
would just exacerbate the problem—when Presi-
slandered, and investigated under this
administration. Obama’s Justice
Department has repeatedly
called conservative activist groups
potential domestic terrorists, and
his administration turned “one of its most
IRS—into a weapon,” target-
ing Tea Party groups with systematic audits.
He’s also flouted the Constitution repeatedly by
issuing executive orders. “In this atmosphere of
earned distrust,” it’s no wonder that conservative
rational boundaries, said Leslie Savan in The
Nation.com. This week, Walmart felt obliged to
deny a widespread rumor that all its Texas stores
were closing so federal officials could use them
as internment camps. Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep.
Louie Gohmert joined Gov. Abbott in validating
son to be concerned.” Sadly, it’s no longer shock-
ing to hear Republicans talk this way, said Leon-
ard Pitts in The Miami Herald. Today, when
a Republican governor calls out guardsmen to
ensure that the president doesn’t stage a military
coup, “we shrug because it’s just another Tues-
day in the lunatic asylum of American politics.”
dent Reagan granted legal status to 4 million
people in 1986, it prompted an influx of 11 mil-
lion additional illegal immigrants. Besides, Clin-
ton showed no interest in immigration when she
was in the Senate or when she ran for president
in 2008. Her Republican rivals should focus on
“Clinton’s total lack of credibility,” said Jennifer
Rubin in WashingtonPost.com. By highlighting
her cynical exploitation of the issue, Republicans
can “start building the case that she is no more
trustworthy on policy” than on email servers or
her family foundation. They should also argue
that Clinton’s promise to expand Obama’s execu-
tive overreach is “a recipe for a third term of
confrontation and dysfunction.”
My fellow Republicans need to take their heads
out of the sand, said Larry Kudlow in National
Review.com. In the wake of Mitt Romney’s
crushing defeat in 2012, when he picked up just
27 percent of the Hispanic vote, the GOP leader-
ship acknowledged the need for an immigration-
reform policy that shows respect for minority
groups. Yet three years later, they’re no closer to
finding one. Unless they want to lose in 2016,
Corbis (2)
it’s crucial they produce a “sensible response” to
Clinton’s “shot across the bow.”
 Talking points
Deflategate: Does the punishment fit the crime?
“That hissing sound you hear is the air
coming out of Tom Brady’s career,” said
the Chicago Tribune in an editorial. After
a four-month investigation into the
“Deflategate” scandal, the NFL has
determined that the four-time Super
Bowl winner and three-time MVP is
“also a cheater.” Brady, the league
says, conspired with equipment
personnel to illegally deflate the
footballs used by the Patriots in
this year’s AFC Championship
game, making them easier to grip,
Brady: Tarnished
throw, and catch. As a result, Brady
will be suspended for the first four games of the
upcoming season, the Patriots will forfeit their
first- and fourth-round draft picks, and team
owner Robert Kraft will pay a $1 million fine— the NFL’s “bar has been set so low.” NFL Com-
an NFL record. Had Brady simply admitted to
tinkering with the balls and apologized, said
Adam Kilgore in The Washington Post, it would Ray Rice just two games for knocking out his
have been a minor crime. He and the Patriots
are being severely disciplined—and his public
image is taking such a hit—because text mes-
sages and other evidence clearly show that he
“flouted a rule, then lied about it to the public
and to investigators.”
We can’t be sure he cheated, said Ben Volin in
The Boston Globe. While Brady has said he
Bin Laden’s death: The untold story?
“Everything we were told about Osama bin
Laden’s killing was a lie,” said Sam Biddle in
Gawker.com. That, at least, is what legendary
journalist Seymour Hersh claims in a 10,000-
word “special investigation” into the 2011 raid,
published this week in the London Review
of Books. The increasingly eccentric 78-year-
old investigative reporter says that bin Laden
“wasn’t hiding out in Abbottabad, as we’ve
been told—he was effectively under house arrest,
placed there under guard by Pakistan’s security
services.” A Pakistani informant gave the CIA his
location, Hersh claims, and then Pakistan and
the U.S. concocted an elaborate story about a
secret raid to conceal Pakistan’s complicity in his
assassination. Special forces troops, Hersh says,
were given unopposed access to his compound,
and they actually shot him so many times he was
left in pieces. Let’s get this straight, said Bobby
Ghosh in Qz.com. President Obama conspired
with Pakistan to stage a raid that badly embar-
rassed Pakistan and damaged relations between
the two countries for years? It makes no sense.
Hersh’s account does, at least, purport to answer
one big question, said Peter Grier in CSMonitor
Reuters
.com. What was the head of the most influen-
NEWS 15
Wit &
prefers throwing “softer” footballs, there
is not “one iota of evidence” that he spe-
Wisdom
cifically asked the team employees to “Ask yourself whether
deflate the balls below the allowable you are happy, and you
cease to be so.”
limit of 12.5 psi. And even if Brady John Stuart Mill, quoted in
was “involved in a conspiracy,” said The Boston Globe
Michael Weinreb in RollingStone
.com, “it was an utterly pointless “The opposite of love is
not hate; it’s indifference.”
conspiracy.” Let’s not forget, Elie Wiesel, quoted in the
“the Patriots outscored the Colts Houston Press
28-0” in the second half of the
AFC title game—“after the defla- “I prefer people who
tion was discovered” and the balls rock the boat to people
who jump out.”
were replaced. Orson Welles, quoted in
GQ magazine
The only reason this punishment seems harsh,
said William Rhoden in NYTimes.com, is that “‘Limits’ is a relative term.
Like beauty, it is often in
the eye of the beholder.”
missioner Roger Goodell received blistering criti- Artist Chris Burden,
cism last year when he initially suspended player quoted in Glasstire.com
“Family not only need
then-fiancee. Patriots coach Bill Belichick was to consist of merely those
caught in 2007 illegally filming an opponent’s whom we share blood
defensive signals; he paid a fine but wasn’t sus- but also for those whom
pended. Desperate to “regain his law-and-order we’d give blood.”
mojo,” Goodell tried to look tough on Brady. So Charles Dickens, quoted in
now a billionaire owner writes a check for a mil- The Times (U.K.)
lion bucks, an aging QB gets to save his strength “Your character is your fate.”
for the playoffs, and the Patriots get to keep their Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya,
Super Bowl trophy. “Where’s the justice?” quoted in TheDailyBeast.com
“A bone to the dog
is not charity. Charity is
the bone shared with the
dog, when you are just as
tial terrorist organization in the world doing in hungry as the dog.”
Jack London, quoted in
Abbottabad? “Bin Laden was supposed to be in Firstpost.com
a cave somewhere along the Afghanistan bor-
der,” not living comfortably “within a mile of a
retirement village for military officers.” Pakistan
had to know he was there, said Jack Shafer in
Poll watch
Politico.com. In that respect, “Hersh may very QAmericans are rapidly
becoming less religious.
well be onto something.” Too bad he got caught
23% now identify with no
up in such a wildly elaborate conspiracy theory. religion, up from 16.1%
in 2007. The “nones”
Hersh used to be a highly respected reporter, now outnumber Catho-
said Max Fisher in Vox.com. He broke the sto- lics (21%) and mainline
ries that told the world about the 1969 My Lai Protestants (15%). Overall,
massacre and the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal. But 70.6% of Americans identi-
in recent years, he “has appeared increasingly fy as Christian, down from
to have gone off the rails” with anonymously 78.4% seven years ago.
Pew Research Center
sourced stories alleging “vast and shadowy con-
spiracies.” In one recent article, he claimed that Q57% of Americans
operatives of the Catholic organization Opus think illegal immigrants
Dei are controlling the U.S. military; in another, should be allowed to stay
he alleged Turkey and an Islamic terrorist group and apply for citizenship.
conspired to stage the deadly chemical weapons 11% prefer they get legal
status without a path to
attack in Syria to lure the U.S. into attacking Syr-
citizenship. 29% think they
ian President Bashar al-Assad. Both stories have should be required to
been thoroughly debunked. “A close reading of leave the country.
Hersh’s bin Laden story suggests it is likely to
New York Times/CBS News
suffer the same fate.”
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
16 NEWS Technology

Software: Can Microsoft recapture its cachet?

“Microsoft looks cool again,” said Drew
Harwell in The Washington Post. For years,
the once dominant software giant has been
more like the “suburban dad of digital
America,” bungling new releases and ceding
ground to more nimble rivals like Google
and Apple on “smartphones, search, and
social networks.” But Satya Nadella, who
took over as CEO last year, has “pushed the
tech titan into surprising territory,” revamp-
ing Windows, playing nice with software
developers, and unveiling exciting new prod-
Nadella has helped make Microsoft ‘cool.’
ucts like the HoloLens “augmented reality”
headset. For the first time since the Bill Gates era, Microsoft is
“intriguing developers, exciting customers, and building things
people actually want to use.”
Under Nadella, Microsoft “has shed its arrogance,” said Kevin
Kelleher in Time.com. Gone are the days when Steve Ballmer,
the previous CEO, “laughed at the iPhone” or publicly mocked
Google’s Android system. Instead of being an 800-pound bully,
today’s Microsoft “works hard to play well with others,” espe-
cially mobile app developers, who had long ignored the Win-
dows platform. Nadella clearly understands the need for great
Windows apps, and last month unveiled technology that allows
developers to easily convert apps they’ve already written for
Apple iOS or Android to run on Windows.
The company also has ambitions to build
the next blockbuster consumer tech prod-
uct, said Nick Wingfield in The New York
Times. Microsoft’s research and develop-
ment division “is the biggest operation of
its kind,” with 1,000 scientists and engi-
neers and an $11 billion annual budget.
Despite those advantages, Microsoft “is
rarely named among the future-defining
tech companies of today.” Products like the
recently released Skype Translator, which
converts conversations from one language
to another in real time, are designed to
alter that perception. Microsoft has also surprised rivals with the
HoloLens headset, which could go on sale as early as this year.
It has been breathlessly hyped as the best headset in the virtual-
reality field. For once, Microsoft is “skating to where the puck
could be headed in technology, rather than where it has been.”
But Microsoft’s continued success is far from assured, said Matt
Weinberger in BusinessInsider.com. The company “has seemed
to be in the lead before, and blown it.” It was one of the first
tech firms to offer a computer tablet, a mobile operating system,
even a smartwatch, “only to fall flat on its face, leaving compa-
nies like Apple and Google to pick up the pieces.” Nadella and
his team say this time will be different. But now, as before, “it’s
Microsoft’s game to lose.”

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

Amazon’s drones might soon “track
you down to deliver your goods,”
said Ruth Reader in VentureBeat
.com. A new patent application for
a feature called “Bring It to Me”
suggests that Amazon plans to use
drones one day to “deliver items
directly” to customers based on
their exact location, using the GPS
in their mobile devices. Creepy inva-
sion of privacy? Maybe, especially
considering how drones have been
used to track people down in “darker
contexts,” but it remains to be seen
how consumers will respond to
the company’s anything, anywhere
service. Amazon is also testing a ser-
vice in Germany that allows deliv-
ery drivers to place packages in a
customer’s car trunk using a special
Uber bids on maps tech
Uber is making a $3 billion bid for Nokia’s
Here, the main rival to Google Maps, said
Mark Scott and Mike Isaac in The New York
Times. The on-demand car service hopes to
break its dependence on Google’s mapping
technology as it strives to position itself “as a
logistics company,” speedily delivering both
people and things. But it’s not alone. A group
of German automakers, including Mercedes-
Benz and BMW, has teamed up with Chinese
search engine Baidu for a counteroffer; they
hope to put the technology to use in self-
driving cars. Though Google Maps has an
estimated 1 billion mobile users, “10 times the
amount of Here’s smartphone users,” Here
dominates the market for built-in car naviga-
tion systems “and spends hundreds of millions
of dollars each year” updating maps spanning
from New York City to New Delhi.
Facebook’s echo chamber
It’s not Facebook’s fault your News Feed is
solidly liberal, or overwhelmingly conserva-
tive, said Davey Alba in Wired.com. Or so
says Facebook. The social network’s data
scientists have investigated the roots of the
to blame. It’s us.” What users click on plays a
bigger role in suppressing opposing opinions
than Facebook’s algorithm, which in their
study only hid differing opinions “8 percent
of the time for liberals and 5 percent for
conservatives.” But critics of the report say
it’s misleading, as users can only click on
links “that the algorithm has already filtered
for them.” Notably, the study was limited to
those who self-identify as liberal or conserva-
tive in their profiles—“a mere 9 percent of the
network’s 1.4 billion users.”
Oculus Rift coming in 2016
Rejoice, virtual-reality gamers, said Sean
Hollister in Gizmodo.com. You’ll be able to
buy “a real, consumer version” of the long-
awaited Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset
early next year. The company has been “keep-
ing details pretty close to the chest,” but it
should be “drastically lighter, smaller, and
more comfortable” than previous versions
released to developers. After first debuting
on Kickstarter in 2012, the headsets were ex-
pected in 2014, the same year Facebook paid
$2 billion for the parent company. The head-
sets will now ship in the first few months of
Corbis (2)

temporary unlock code. political “echo chamber” on the site, and 2016, and the company plans to start taking
concluded “Facebook’s own algorithms aren’t pre-orders later this year.

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

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18 NEWS
Climate change could cause mass extinction
If climate change continues unabated, one
in six species on Earth could disappear
by the end of the century, a new study
has found. Some land and sea creatures
are already moving to new habitats in
response to warmer temperatures, and
scientists warn that in coming decades
there will be a dramatic increase in the
number of extinctions among species
that are unable to adapt to heat waves,
droughts, floods, and rising sea levels.
“Perhaps most surprising is that extinction
risk does not just increase with tempera-
ture rise, but accelerates, curving upward
as the Earth warms,” the study’s author,
Mark Urban tells Smithsonian.com. He
Everest’s peak, viewed from base camp
Mount Everest got shorter
Mount Everest, the world’s tallest moun-
tain, is slightly shorter following the recent
magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated
Nepal and claimed close to 8,000 lives.
When the fault between the Indian and
Eurasian tectonic plates slipped, pent-up
strain was unleashed, allowing Everest to
sink by about an inch, new satellite data
reveals. As Everest sank into Earth’s crust,
the Annapurna Range on the other side
of the fault rose by roughly eight inches.
Geologists are now investigating to find
out exactly where the underground fault
slipped. British geologist Tim Wright tells
BBC.com that not all the built-up tension
along the plates was released, so it’s impor-
tant to know which parts of the fault “are
still primed and ready to go in a future
earthquake.” The small drop in Everest’s
height isn’t permanent. The ongoing col-
lision between the Indian and Eurasian
tectonic plates is lifting the Himalayas by
about 0.4 inches every year.
A galaxy far, far away
Powerful telescopes have enabled
astronomers to look back in time and
identify the oldest and most distant galaxy
ever discovered, reports The Washington
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
Health & Science
and his team analyzed 131 previous
studies on how plants, amphibians, fish,
mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates
were coping with climate change. They
concluded that some plant and animal
species will die throughout the world,
but that South America, Australia, and
New Zealand face the largest number
of extinctions, because many species in
these regions rely on unique and iso-
lated habitats and won’t be able to move
elsewhere. If there is a mass extinction,
it will be the sixth in Earth’s long history,
but the first caused by humans. Losing
about 16 percent of the world’s species,
researchers warn, would affect global
Post. The galaxy, known as EGS-zs8-1,
formed 13.1 billion years ago, or relatively
soon after the Big Bang gave birth to the
universe 13.8 billion years ago. Scientists
were able to measure the galaxy’s distance
from Earth, by analyzing its “redshift”—
how far the light it emits is shifted into the
red part of the spectrum. Since wavelengths
of light stretch out as galaxies move away
from Earth because of the expansion of the
universe, a higher redshift indicates greater
distance. EGS-zs8-1 has the highest redshift
ever measured, and lies in the furthest
regions of the known universe. This early
galaxy formed stars very rapidly—about
80 times faster than the Milky Way makes
them today. Scientists will delve further
into that mystery, and into many others
concerning the most distant and oldest
galaxies, when the new James Webb Space
Telescope is launched into orbit in 2018.
Dressing for success
It turns out the familiar phrase “Dress for
success” may be more than
just a cliché. Many modern
companies promote creativity
and “out of the box” think-
ing with casual work
environments, but new
research suggests more
formal dress codes
would actually pro-
duce better results.
Sacrificing the comfort
of T-shirts and jeans in
favor of suits, dresses, and
other formal attire could
improve people’s ability to
think abstractly and focus
more on the “big picture”
than on details and more
immediate work problems.
In a series of experiments,
Species like this Pacific tree frog are in trouble.
economies, food supplies, and cultures.
“We have the choice,” Urban said. “The
world can decide where on that curve
they want the future Earth to be.”
college-age men and women were asked to
rate the formality of their outfits and com-
plete tests designed to assess their style of
thinking. Those wearing suits and dresses
showed signs of broader, more holistic
thinking—a quality often attributed to
leaders. “Putting on formal clothes makes
us feel powerful, and that changes the basic
way we see the world,” the study’s author,
Abraham Rutchick, tells TheAtlantic.com.
Scientists also suggest that formal clothing
may boost people’s mood, helping them
engage in high-level abstract thinking.
Health scare of the week
Fructose triggers cravings
Not all sugars are created equal. Glucose
and fructose are simple sugars naturally
found in fruit and have the same number
of calories, but new research suggests
there are important differences in how the
body responds to these sweeteners. While
glucose is absorbed directly into the blood-
stream to produce energy, fructose—which
is used to sweeten soft drinks and pro-
cessed foods—is metabolized in the liver.
The body reacts to glucose in the blood by
producing insulin, which triggers feelings
of fullness. “Fructose doesn’t stimulate
insulin secretion, and if there’s no insu-
lin, you don’t get the information that
you’re full,” the study’s senior author,
Dr. Kathleen Page, tells The New York
Times. Consuming fructose also triggers
more activity in areas of the brain involved
in reward processing, which intensifies
cravings for high-calorie foods such as
candy, cookies, and pizza. Researchers do
Corbis, AP, Everett Collection
not recommend that people forgo fruit,
since it provides fiber and nutrients and
has relatively small amounts of fructose
compared with soft drinks and processed
foods. But researchers say it does make
sense to limit overall sugar intake.
 Pick of the week’s cartoons NEWS 19

For more political cartoons, visit: www.theweek.com/cartoons. THE WEEK May 22, 2015
20
Review of reviews: Books
Book of the week
Dreamland: The True Tale of
America’s Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
(Bloomsbury, $28)
Journalist Sam Quinones has written a
book about the spread of heroin use that
“every American should read,” said Kevin
O’Kelly in The Christian Science Monitor.
The former Los Angeles Times reporter has
traveled from the poppy fields of Mexico
to the pill mills of Rust Belt Ohio to tease
out the strands of a complicated story, and
he “weaves them together seamlessly.” In
Quinones’ view, the explosion of heroin
use in small and mid-size American com-
munities during the past two decades was
primed by the rampant spread of prescrip-
tion painkillers pushed recklessly by the
pharmaceutical industry. “The story he tells
is an illustration of the failures of medicine
in the so-called free-market system, of the
destructiveness of corporate venality, and of
the desperate and criminal lengths to which
people mired in poverty or tormented by
addiction can be driven.”
Novel of the week
A God in Ruins
by Kate Atkinson
(Little, Brown, $28)
“Kate Atkinson just keeps getting bet-
ter,” said Amy Gentry in the Chicago Tri-
bune. Revisiting a secondary character
from 2013’s acclaimed Life After Life,
Atkinson’s “achingly beautiful” 10th
novel scrambles chronology as it fol-
lows Teddy Todd from a plush English
childhood to harrowing duty as a World
War II fighter pilot to a long, quiet
postwar life marked by the contrast be-
tween his decency and the inexplicable
resentment of his only daughter. In his
postwar years, Teddy, a would-be poet,
initially comes across as a bit of a loser,
said Ellis Avery in The Boston Globe.
But as I watched him stoically weather
his daughter’s slights, “his apparent
mediocrity began to read as humility,
even heroism.” By emphasizing the or-
dinariness of Teddy’s existence before
and after the war, Atkinson makes us
aware of the millions of Teddys lost to
20th-century fighting. The achievement
of this “staggeringly gorgeous” book is
that it “generates suspense and won-
der from the most modest of materials
and the most majestic: a single life.”
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
ARTS
A portrait of a pill addict murdered for her meds
Many factors converged to create our cur-
rent heroin problem, said Laura Miller in
Salon.com. Widespread joblessness in our
older cities was one; “another was a mis-
begotten ‘revolution’ in standard medical
practices for treating pain”—a revolution
funded by the creator of OxyContin and
backed by unfounded medical claims. In
“a flabbergasting game of scientific tele-
phone,” a short 1980 letter published in the
New England Journal of Medicine eventu-
ally came to be described by authorities as
“a landmark report” that had proved opi-
ates were not addictive. OxyContin, which
The Argonauts
by Maggie Nelson
(Graywolf, $23)
The poet, critic,
and essayist Maggie
Nelson ranks among
“the sharpest and
most supple thinkers
of her generation,”
said Olivia Laing
in The Guardian
(U.K.). In her latest
work, the author of
The Art of Cruelty
shares her experi-
ence of falling in
love, marrying, and starting a family. “But
because it is a book by Maggie Nelson,
it turns every one of these concepts on its
head.” In 2008, after a passionate court-
ship, Nelson married the artist Harry
Dodge, who is transgender and was born
biologically female. Four years ago, at
about the time Nelson became pregnant
through in vitro fertilization, Dodge began
testosterone treatment and had his breasts
removed. But as interesting as the couple’s
experiences are in themselves, Nelson “isn’t
just airing her feelings” here. “She’s bent
on using these experiences as ways of pry-
ing the culture open.”
debuted in 1996, quickly created legions of
addicts plus a booming underground trade
enabled by unscrupulous doctors. But many
addicts who couldn’t afford an Oxy habit
turned to heroin, and that’s where a fasci-
nating entrepreneurial outfit stepped in.
Thanks to the “Xalisco Boys,” a network
of dealers from a single Mexican back-
water, scoring heroin in many U.S. cities
is now “as easy as ordering pizza,” said
Angela Lutz in The Kansas City Star.
The upstart cartel developed a clever busi-
ness model: Dealers are salaried, mostly
unarmed, and put customer service first.
If a junkie is dissatisfied with a delivery,
free bonus heroin is added to the next
order. As the Xalisco model spread, so did
heroin; the number of users in the U.S. has
more than doubled since 2007 to nearly
700,000. Quinones’ title refers to a shut-
tered public pool in a city devastated by the
opiate epidemic, said Aaron Mesh in the
Portland, Ore., Willamette Week. But by
the end of Dreamland, the word is also a
metaphor for America at large—“a nation
dulled by comfort into believing it deserves
a special exemption from pain.”
The result is “a magnificent achievement of
thought, care, and art,” said Sara Marcus
in the Los Angeles Times. A 143-page
blend of memoir, gender theory, and “gen-
tle” polemic, The Argonauts “shows us the
value of lives, and books, that refuse to be
all one thing.” An early passage recalls how
a friend suggested with mild disdain that
Nelson and Dodge were turning themselves
into a cookie-cutter two-parent family.
But Nelson pushes back against social cat-
egories and hierarchies of all kinds. In her
thinking, it’s not ideas about conventional
sexuality or conventional families that
need to be torn down. She writes, “It’s the
binary of normative/transgressive that’s
unsustainable.”
Though Nelson brings real rigor to such
intellectual concerns, The Argonauts is
consistently lifted by “the buoyancy and
vitality of her prose,” said Whitney Mallett
in The New Republic. Her title refers to
Andrea Morales/The New York Times/Redux
the Argo—a ship from Greek myth that
retains its identity even as all of its parts
are replaced—and she uses the metaphor
to make a compelling case that we could
avoid many battles about what’s normal by
recognizing that personal identity is always
in flux. In a society that divides young
from old, male from female, and gay from
straight, “Nelson’s only truth is change.”
 The Book List ARTS 21

Best books...chosen by Harold Bloom Author of the week

Harold Bloom’s new book, The Daemon Knows, celebrates 12 writers whose
works shaped what he calls the American Sublime. Below, the esteemed scholar and Timur Vermes
critic praises six benchmark volumes by some of those novelists and poets. Timur Vermes still isn’t sure
how to interpret the runaway
Leaves of Grass and Other Writings by The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne success of his first novel,
Walt Whitman (Norton, $22). Whitman’s poetry (Dover, $4.50). Hester Prynne remains the said Rachel Donadio in The
defines what is American and not European in grandest, most poignant, and most enduring New York Times. Look Who’s
our national literary tradition. Its originality and female character in American literature. She is Back, a satirical work that
humane stance have a healing function, which is our truest feminist in that she will not yield to imagines Adolf Hitler waking
what he so deeply desired. Whitman was more the Puritan morality that condemns her and her from a Rip Van Winkle–like
than our greatest poet. I would go so far as to heroic sexuality. slumber to
nominate him as Abraham Lincoln’s only rival become a
Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry and Prose cranky talk-
for greatest American.
(Library of America, $40). Stevens spoke for the show host
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (Bantam, $5). voice that is great within us. His poetry, fecund in today’s
Melville’s magnificent prose epic is at once a and beautiful in its relation of sound to sense, Berlin, sold
superb sea yarn and a profound critique of was dedicated to our accepting things as they 2 million
Yahweh, source of the unwarranted suffering of are—the enterprise of making friends with the copies in
Job. I cannot think of any other American fictive necessity of dying. His poems have helped me to Vermes’ na-
prose as memorable and transfixing as that with live my life. tive Germany and has fans
which Melville constructs his tragic vision of clamoring for a sequel. “This
Hart Crane: Complete Poems and Selected is like a social experiment
Captain Ahab.
Letters (Library of America, $40). My favorite with 2 million participants,”
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark American poet, Hart Crane, destroyed himself says the 48-year-old for-
Twain (Dover, $4.50). The other crucial American at 32. Despite his truncated career, Crane stands mer journalist. “It must say
epic. Huck is admirable, astonishingly wise, and with Whitman and Stevens at the apex of our something.” Vermes isn’t
always open to the suffering of others. Nothing national poetry. I have loved Crane’s poetry for the first German writer to
in American literature has quite the majesty and three-quarters of a century, since I received an make the architect of the
serenity of the life Huck and Jim live on the raft immortal wound when I first read him at the Holocaust a comic figure,
carrying them down the Mississippi River. age of 10. but few of those who’ve
violated that cultural taboo
have enjoyed such a popular
Also of interest...in Nordic fiction and fact response. Vermes thinks
My Struggle: Book Four Reykjavik Nights Germans are hungry for a
fresh conversation about
by Karl Ove Knausgaard (Archipelago, $27) by Arnaldur Indridason (Minotaur, $26) their nation’s past. “Most
The new volume in Karl Ove Knaus- The best Inspector Erlendur novels people were sick of hearing
gaard’s improbably riveting 3,600- “speak for themselves as to why all this serious guilty stuff.
page memoir proves to be “the swift- Scandinavian crime novels have You have to tell the same
est, most neatly arced of the books become so popular,” said Sarah Ward story in a different way.”
thus far,” said John Freeman in The in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The book, which had its U.S.
Boston Globe. As the action begins, In this prequel to the series, the future release last week, inspired
the future novelist is 18 and heading to a remote detective is a traffic cop in 1970s Reykjavik. many German critics to
village to teach. We get “a very funny send-up of When a vagrant he’s befriended is found dead, complain that Vermes was
a young man’s desperate, rabbit-like need to get Erlendur ignores his peers’ apathy and launches trivializing Hitler’s crimes.
laid.” But then Knausgaard, mirroring his father, an after-hours investigation. If you’re new to the But Vermes says that his
begins drinking heavily, and the interplay between work of Iceland’s Arnaldur Indridason, “there’s intent was quite serious.
the pair’s demons becomes “subtly terrifying.” plenty here to tempt you to read more.” By depicting a Hitler whose
odious ideas blend with his
One of Us Blood on Snow commonsense put-downs of
2015 Germany, he’s showing
by Asne Seierstad (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28) by Jo Nesbo (Knopf, $24)
readers that they might not
Asne Seierstad has written a nonfic- Jo Nesbo’s latest stand-alone crime recognize a monster when
tion crime narrative “more power- novel cries out to be filmed, said they see one. “We’re not
ful and compelling” than Truman Alison Flood in The Observer (U.K.). laughing about Hitler, we’re
Capote’s In Cold Blood, said Eric The superstar Norwegian novelist’s laughing with him,” Vermes
Schlosser in The New York Times. new antihero is an Oslo hitman who says. “This gives us a sort
Taking a hard look at Anders Breivik, presents himself as a sensitive soul, of creepy feeling.” His own
the militant Christian who in 2011 massacred and though he “doesn’t possess the sheer, page- mother, he admits, didn’t
Michael Marsland, Corbis

77 people in Norway, the Norwegian journalist
has created a tragic true-life drama of “irresistible
force.” The killer is a deeply disturbing figure,
and the mostly teenage victims are vividly alive.
“I wanted to put it down but couldn’t.”
turning magnetism” of Nesbo’s Harry Hole, he find the novel’s Hitler humor-
ous. But she’s old enough,
finds himself at the center of plenty of thrilling
he says, to remember that
action after he falls hard for a woman he’s been
in 1934, the führer seemed
asked to rub out. All of it’s “ever so noiry and more normal than not.
pulpy,” and the pages turn fast enough.

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

22 ARTS Review of reviews: Art & Music
Exhibit of the week
The Critique of Reason:
Romantic Art, 1760–1860
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven,
Conn., through July 26
Maybe we have yet to grasp the
essence of 19th-century romanticism
“because we are still immersed in its
aftershocks,” said Edward Rothstein
in The Wall Street Journal. From our
symphony halls to our conception of
childhood as a time of blessed inno-
cence, evidence of the movement’s
effects on our thinking surround us
every day. But this exhibition of 300
paintings, sculptures, and other works
aims to dissuade us from the popular
notion that the romantics answered only
to their own hearts as they turned away
from the Enlightenment’s faith in science
and reason. Not every work here backs the
curator’s assertion that the romantics were
faithful children of the Enlightenment who
simply wished to explore features of experi-
ence that reason couldn’t explain. The show
does, however, plunge viewers into the
“shifting, churning” world that these artists
were trying to comprehend.
Romantic artists were more engaged with
the world than we give them collective
Hiatus Kaiyote
Choose Your Weapon
++++
“The future of music
has arrived, and it’s
a lot more exciting
than we might have
reasonably expected,”
said Jeff Miers in
The Buffalo News.
Hiatus Kaiyote, the
first Australian band ever nominated for
an R&B Grammy, has spent the past two
years “taking most of what’s good” about
electronic dance music and marrying it to
neo-soul, 1970s-era R&B, and a virtuosic
command of jazz harmonics and “jarring”
time-signature shifts. The group’s second
album runs 70 minutes long, but “there’s
no dead air here”—just 18 dazzling tracks
that “make the weird and out-of-left-field
sound hauntingly familiar.” Choose Your
Weapon proves to be “an experience you
have to fully immerse yourself in to appre-
ciate,” said Everett True in The Guardian
(U.K.). But if you don’t like “disorienting”
synthesizer fills or vocalist Nai Palm’s scat
singing, just wait. When “Borderline With
My Atoms” kicks in, it “feels like the band
is channeling 30 or 40 years of soul into a
six-minute song.”
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
Stubbs’ A Lion Attacking a Horse (1762)
credit for, said Karen Rosenberg in The
New York Times. The brutal imagery
in Francisco Goya’s “Disasters of War”
series can only be read as an assault on
contemporaneous religious and politi-
cal institutions, and the 81 etchings greet
viewers in the show’s first gallery. But the
curators also find social critique in unex-
pected places, pointing out, for instance,
how George Stubbs’ monumental 1762
painting A Lion Attacking a Horse func-
tions both as a rigorous nature study and
a comment on human violence. We’re not
asked to see political intent in each of the
Mumford & Sons
Wilder Mind
++++
For its third album,
the best-selling rock
band in the world
went looking for a new
sound and “found
Coldplay instead,” said
Allison Stewart in The
Washington Post.
Mumford & Sons, the British quartet that
combined Appalachian string-picking with
“rafter-rattling hooks” to usher in a “nu-
folk” revival, has ditched the banjo alto-
gether on Wilder Mind, and the move “robs
the group of much of what made it novel.”
With drum machines, synths, and chiming
electric guitars providing a new backdrop,
the songs here “are as immediately appeal-
ing as any the band has ever done, but also
more forgettable.” The boys’ new approach
“repeats some of the same problems, in
tone and dynamics, that plagued them
before,” said Jim Farber in the New York
Daily News. As before, “booming arrange-
ments take precedence over the melodies,”
Marcus Mumford regularly oversings, and
the music feels rootless. Switching genres,
for these artists, “amounts to trading one
bland canvas for another.”
great romantic landscape paintings
hanging here, but three “stunning”
seascapes by J.M.W. Turner remind
us that the romantics weren’t all
mystics and dreamers. Many were
“inquisitive students of nature
whose awe-triggering sublime
vistas were firmly grounded in the
empirical.”
“A big part of the story is missing,”
said Sebastian Smee in The Boston
Globe. The works are drawn
mostly from Yale’s collections of
British and French art, leaving out
such great German romantic paint-
ers as Caspar David Friedrich. Even
so, the show feels “fantastically
generous”: Going beyond name-checking
figures like Eugène Delacroix, John
Constable, and William Blake, it “sprays
masterpieces around like Napoleonic
edicts.” Besides, a sense of incompleteness
“echoes the very nature of romanticism.”
As demonstrated by the show’s section on
religious work, it was “in its attempts to
acknowledge the unknown, to honor the
unknowable,” that romanticism broke most
forcefully from earlier Enlightenment think-
ing. Perhaps we struggle to put romanticism
behind us simply because it is “a timeless,
universal impulse.”
My Morning Jacket
The Waterfall
++++
“As usual,” My
Morning Jacket’s latest
“sounds foreign on the
first listen,” said Lior
Phillips in A.V. Club.
That’s a good thing.
While the Louisville-
based rock band’s
“frantic approach to genre hopping” has
produced more than one record that came
across as “a menagerie of quirks,” front-
man Jim James has provided a more
cohesive framework here that still allows
him space to explore. “The magic is in
James’ voice or, rather, voices.” Whether
applied to a smooth falsetto or “lacerated
wail,” his versatility “keeps opening new
doors.” Newcomers to the band “may be
disconcerted by the record’s wide stylistic
scope,” said Charles Pitter in PopMatters
.com. But The Waterfall is rich in hooks
that “seemingly appear out of nowhere,”
and the band’s able musicians convey a
freewheeling attitude that complements
James’ vocal approach. They seem as
comfortable playing “laid-back soul
grooves” as they do psychedelic rock
driven by “laser-like” guitar.
 Review of reviews: Film ARTS 23
Good Kill This “provocative, thoroughly
modern” war movie “makes
“stirs him to another perfor-
mance of cogency and zeal,”
Directed by Andrew Niccol Clint Eastwood’s American said Anthony Lane in The
(R) Sniper look slow to find its tar- New Yorker. Alas, “other folk
++++ get,” said Robbie Collin in The are barely a blip on Tommy’s
A drone operator
Daily Telegraph (U.K.). Like radar,” including his wife
comes unglued. that recent record-setting hit, (January Jones), and the movie
Good Kill concerns a soldier suffers for it. Again and again,
who’s been given a God’s-eye the script “lets Hawke down,”
view of human slaughter. Ethan Hawke’s clipped airman saddling Tommy’s colleagues
Hawke stars as a pilot who with preachy, “frequently
sits in Nevada raining mayhem on targets halfway awful” dialogue, said Linda Holmes in NPR.org.
around the world from a drone he controls by Still, the chilling airstrikes themselves almost save
remote. Hawke has been good lately, and the chance the movie. Its “greatest strength” lies in its ability to
to play Tommy Egan, a stoic undone by his duties, make the concept of remote warfare tangible.

The D Train The latest Jack Black comedy

“dwells in a much darker realm
tive.” Unfortunately, the movie
“isn’t smart enough” to be
Directed by Andrew Mogel than American humor gener- darkly comic, said Christopher
and Jarrad Paul ally ventures into,” said John Orr in TheAtlantic.com. “Apart
(R) Anderson in The Wall Street from its central, moderately
++++ Journal. The star plays an
insufferable small-town loser
homophobic twist, it has noth-
ing to offer except a stereotypi-
Two ex-classmates get
who tries to become a hero by cal bromedy plot and a series
surprisingly intimate.
talking the coolest guy from of tedious homilies.” So don’t
high school into attending their Marsden and Black: A deeper bromance go in expecting a comedy, said
class’s 20th reunion. But after Bilge Ebiri in NYMag.com.
a drug-fueled night in Hollywood, the two ex- When James Marsden’s Oliver Lawless shows up
classmates have sex, and Black’s family man returns for the reunion just as Black’s Dan Landsman had
home more than conflicted. “As comedy, The D hoped, neither man is comfortable, and the final act
Train is far more cringe-worthy than outright hilari- becomes “a deeply weird, ultimately touching med-
ous. But as a study in human nature, it’s provoca- ley of delusion, humiliation, and friendship.”

5 Flights Up “There’s no point in trying to

resist the sweetness of it all,”
Directed by Richard said Stephanie Merry in The
Loncraine Washington Post. Despite its
[PG-13] many flaws, this sentimental
tale of an elderly urban couple
++++ in transition “weasels its way
A potential home sale into your heart.” When Diane
stresses out a happy couple. Keaton’s Ruth and Morgan
Freeman’s Alex decide to test Soul mates Keaton and Freeman
what their once modestly priced
Brooklyn apartment might bring in the current
market, we expect the pushy buyers who soon
appear, but the moments when we see Alex and
Lorey Sebastian/IFC Films, Hilary Bronwyn Gayle, Focus Features Press
more quiet screen time, said
Christy Lemire in RogerEbert
.com. Once a sick dog and a
terrorist scare enter the plot,
the story begins to feel “as
crammed and cluttered as an
overpriced New York City stu-
dio.” Amid the hubbub, flash-
backs allow Ruth and Alex to
look back on their four-decade
relationship and count their
many blessings, said John Hartl in The Seattle
Times. Because none of the complications in the
movie’s plot truly threaten their bliss, “what’s miss-

Ruth alone “really add up to something.” This ing” throughout 5 Flights Up is “a sense that any
particular interracial couple could have used even of this matters.”

New on DVD and Blu-ray

American Sniper
(Warner, $31)
The most financially successful war movie
ever made feels like an old Western, said
Slate.com. “An existential critique of violent
machismo that doubles as a celebration of
violence,” it makes Bradley Cooper a deco-
rated U.S. sniper who somehow “never
loses his core warmth and humanity.”
The Way Things Go
(Icarus, $21)
This 30-minute film from 1988 has to be
“among the most admired artworks of the
late 20th century,” said The New York Times.
Made by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David
Weiss, it enacts a “hilarious and disconcert-
ing” faux chain reaction involving tires, tea-
kettles, and countless other inanimate objects.
Leviathan
(Sony, $31)
In a remote Russian fishing village, a
mechanic fights to save his home from a
corrupt government. This “magnificent”
recent Oscar nominee “plays like Tolstoy,”
said The Boston Globe. Its contempt for
2015 Russia is complete, and “it takes down
what it loves with mournful outrage.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

24 ARTS
Movies on TV
Monday, May 18
The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire
The second film about
Katniss Everdeen remains
the best yet. Jennifer
Lawrence shines again as
a young gladiator battling
a rigged society. (2013)
5:30 p.m., Epix
Tuesday, May 19
The 25th Hour
Ed Norton plays a drug
dealer stopping in on New
York City friends and family
on the eve of a prison term.
Spike Lee directs. (2002)
7:40 p.m., Cinemax
Wednesday, May 20
The Accused
Jodie Foster won her first
Oscar playing a woman
who is gang-raped outside
a bar and must fight to hold
her assailants accountable.
(1988) 9 p.m., Sundance
Thursday, May 21
Boeing Boeing
The playboy life of a bach-
elor in Paris hits turbulence
when a friend tries to steal
his three stewardess girl-
friends. Tony Curtis and
Jerry Lewis co-star. (1965)
9:35 p.m., Movieplex
Friday, May 22
The Stranger
Orson Welles and Edward
G. Robinson make fine
foes as a Nazi fugitive in
America and the war-crimes
investigator who tracks him
down. (1946) 8 p.m., TCM
Saturday, May 23
Dawn of the Planet
of the Apes
A brilliant, principled ape
works to prevent other
members of his species
from wiping out the last
humans. For a middle
chapter in a sci-fi franchise
reboot, the results aren’t
bad. (2014) 8 p.m., HBO
Sunday, May 24
Men in War
Bleak and beautifully shot,
Anthony Mann’s Korean
War drama follows a lost
platoon as the men attempt
to rejoin their division.
(1957) 8 p.m., TCM
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
Television
The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching
Southern Rites
On a January night four years ago, a young
black man in Lyons, Ga., was shot dead by a
white homeowner who discovered the 22-year-
old in a family member’s bedroom. In this
timely documentary, filmmaker-photographer
Gillian Laub uses the case and a divisive sheriff’s
election campaign to explore how the legacies
of race shape life in the same rural patch of
Georgia where she previously documented seg-
regated proms. From tragedy springs mild hope.
Monday, May 18, at 9 p.m., HBO
Independent Lens: 1971
Call it the analog version of the Edward
Snowden case. In March 1971, eight activists
used a crowbar to break into an FBI field office
and steal a cache of documents that proved the
agency was illegally spying on U.S. citizens. This
suspenseful documentary revisits the plot and the
ensuing manhunt. Several participants—never
caught—share their stories on camera. Monday,
May 18, at 10 p.m. PBS; check local listings
500 Questions
Remember the prime-time game-show craze of
the early aughts? Producer Mark Burnett (The
Voice, Survivor) is seeking the second coming of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with this trivia
show. In a serialized showdown, various super-
smart people will be peppered with challenging
questions at a rate of one every 10 seconds.
Three straight wrong answers means elimina-
tion. Wednesday, May 20, at 8 p.m., ABC
Between
The Hunger Games set should enjoy this new
dystopian series, set in a small town that’s quar-
antined after all residents over 21 begin dying
of a mysterious affliction. Nickelodeon star
Jennette McCurdy (Sam and Cat) plays a preg-
nant teenager who was planning to leave Pretty
Lake when barricades were erected. Though
this is a Netflix drama, binge watching will
be discouraged: The episodes will be released
for streaming weekly, one at a time. Available
Thursday, May 21, Netflix
Retirement party: Obama and Letterman last week
A blow against government spying, in the film 1971
Red Nose Day
Great Britain’s most successful telethon is get-
ting an American remake. On a day dedicated to
spreading smiles while encouraging giving, Will
Ferrell, Jack Black, Michelle Rodriguez, Pharrell
Williams, and many more comedians, actors,
and musicians will put on a three-hour special
featuring comedy sketches and live musical per-
formances. Proceeds will benefit 12 spotlighted
charities. Thursday, May 21, at 8 p.m., NBC
Other highlights
The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip
of Bob Weir
The Grateful Dead’s rhythm guitarist reflects
at length on the evolution of the habit-forming
band and talks about taking charge after Jerry
Garcia’s death in 1995. Available for streaming
Friday, May 22, Netflix
A Salute to the Troops: In Performance at
the White House
The president and first lady host a musical
salute to the nation’s armed services. Common,
Willie Nelson, and John Fogerty will be among
the performers. Friday, May 22, at 10 p.m., PBS;
check local listings
The Cannibal in the Jungle
True stories about 3-foot-tall hominids and a
scientist accused of cannibalism merge in this
scripted drama about a myth-chasing expedition
team. Sunday, May 24, 9 p.m., Animal Planet
Show of the week
Late Show With David Letterman
So long, Dave, you’ll be missed. Back in 1982,
David Letterman stepped into a sleepy late-
night TV slot and began unpacking his slightly
subversive comic sensibility. He dropped stuff
from the roof to watch it smash. He donned an
Alka-Seltzer suit and got lowered into a dunk
tank. Thirty-three years later, Dave has been
mainstreamed but not fully tamed, yet he’s
ready to sign off for good. The countdown has
included a teary moment with Steve Martin
and a heartfelt “We love you” from President
Obama. Maybe Julia Roberts is ready to marry
PBS, AP
him? Wednesday, May 20, at 11:35 p.m., CBS
• All listings are Eastern Time.

Lebanese toum: The ultimate condiment for grilling
If love songs were written to garlic,
Lebanese toum would be “the finest aria
of them all,” said Maureen Abood in Rose
Water & Orange Blossoms (Running
Press). The potent puree is “pure garlic fla-
vor” brightened with lemon, a sort of aioli
without the egg. And it’s fabulous with
grilled foods and so much more. In fact, a
spoonful of toum “elevates any steamed or
roasted vegetable.” Once you have a batch
on hand, “you’ll find yourself stirring toum
into just about any recipe that calls for
minced garlic.”
One way to enjoy it is with grilled chicken
made tender and succulent by a long
soak in a yogurt marinade. The toum
itself requires a different kind of patience,
because you must combine the garlic and
oil slowly and steadily over several minutes.
Lebanese cooks will employ a number
of tricks to avoid a broken toum emul-
sion, such as adding an egg white or some
cooked potato. “But I like my toum with-
out any of those, which can be replaced
with patience—and a little ice water, which
helps the emulsion hold.”
Start with very firm heads of garlic, and if
you find a green germ in any of the bulbs,
remove it to avoid bitterness. The toum,
once covered, will keep in the refrigerator
for several weeks.
LEISURE
Food & Drink
Chicken bathed in the essence of garlic
Recipe of the week:
Yogurt-marinated chicken skewers
with toum
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
1 medium-size sweet onion, grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp crushed dried mint
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves,
cut into 1- to 2-inch pieces
In a medium bowl or resealable plastic bag,
combine marinade ingredients. Add chicken
pieces, cover or seal, and refrigerate for at
least 8 and up to 24 hours.
Preheat a grill or broiler to medium-high.
25
Place chicken in a colander and drain off
marinade. Pat chicken dry with paper tow-
els. Thread pieces onto skewers, leaving
about ¹⁄8 inch between pieces. Generously
season with kosher salt and black pepper.
Grill over medium-high heat or broil on
a sheet pan, turning once, until cooked
through and slightly charred, about 10
minutes on grill or 20 minutes under
broiler. Remove chicken from skewers.
Serve hot with toum on the side for dip-
ping, or drizzled over chicken. Serves 4.
Toum
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and halved
lengthwise
1 tsp kosher salt
Juice of 1 lemon
1¾ cups neutral oil, such as safflower or
canola
4 to 6 tbsp ice water
In a food processor, pulse garlic with salt,
stopping to scrape down sides a few times,
until cloves are minced. Add lemon juice
and pulse to combine. With the processor
on, drizzle in ¼ cup oil so slowly that the
stream turns to a dribble at times. Slowly
pour in 1 tbsp ice water. Continue adding
oil and ice water (¼ cup and 1 tbsp at a
time), until sauce is thick but still pourable
and all of the oil has been incorporated,
about 7 minutes. Makes about 2 cups.

Las Vegas: A mecca of ‘normcore dining’ Wine: Splurge-worthy rosés

“There is no place on earth that offers more op-
portunities to make bad choices than Las Vegas,”
said David Chang in GQ.com. When it’s time to
eat, the most frequent mistake visitors make is to
aim either too low (an all-you-can-eat buffet) or
too high (a chilly realm of Michelin stars and $75
steaks). Vegas excels instead at what I call norm-
core dining—the kind of experience offered at big,
fun restaurants where the food isn’t brilliant but is
“just a little bit better than it needs to be.”
The Oyster Bar's centerpiece The Oyster Bar My favorite normcore spot in all
of America sits inside Palace Station, an off-Strip casino that attracts a local crowd and
never fails to generate a good-time spirit. Start with a dozen raw oysters while the
kitchen prepares you a “combo pan roast,” a Creole-style seafood medley with a cream-
and-tomato sauce. “You won’t be able to understand how something so monotone can
be so tasty.” 2411 W. Sahara Ave. (702) 367-2411
Jason Varney, courtesy of The Oyster Bar
Rosé’s resurgence over the past decade
was just a beginning, said Elin McCoy
in Bloomberg.com. The wine’s appeal
was partially tied to its modest price,
but many producers are now exploring
the market for prestige rosés and de-
livering products, like the three below,
that earn their healthy markups.
2012 Château d’Esclans Les Clans
($65). Here’s “a great wine that
just happens to be pink,” from the
Provence winery that sparked the
premium-rosé trend. Expect “suave
notes of red berries and citrus.”
2010 Biondi-Santi Rosato di
Toscano ($80). One of Italy’s great-

Chang’s Hong Kong Cuisine As at most other dim sum restaurants, the service at est rosatos was previously made
Chang’s is “remarkably unfriendly.” But this is where big-time Asian gamblers come to for the family only. The exciting
refuel, and I can vouch for the salted-shrimp fried rice and the flaky, sweet barbecued- 2010 is “steely dry, with rose-petal
pork pies. 4670 S. Decatur Blvd., (702) 362-3663 scents and the taste of cherries.”
Bund Shanghai Located in a sea of Asian massage parlors, Bund Shanghai wins points 2013 Antica Terra Angelicall Rosé
because if you tell a local you’re dining here, “he will think you’re insane.” No matter. ($90). This “mineral- and spice-
“The play is to load up on sheng jian bao,” a pillowy dumpling with a crunchy bottom laden” rosé is “one of the most
and “a meat-bomb center full of delicious soup.” 3545 S. Decatur Blvd., (702) 272-1777 intriguing pink wines around.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

26 LEISURE
This week’s dream: Discovering unexplored Italy
Don’t bother ever telling a Milanese or
Florentine that you’re heading south to
Calabria, said David Prior in Condé Nast
Traveler. For Italians from anywhere other
than the aforementioned toe of the boot,
“the standard response is an incredulous,
often dramatically drawn out, ‘Ma perché?’
(‘But why?’)” But while Calabria in many
ways has been a cursed place—its history
marked by wars, earthquakes, and the
demon grip of ’Ndrangheta, the region’s
crime syndicate—it harbors riches worth
exploring and is learning to share them.
When Pope Francis visited last year and
excommunicated all ’Ndrangheta members,
a door opened. Calabria, many will now
learn, owns a shoreline as spectacular as
Amalfi’s, and coastal mountains dotted with
ancient fortified towns.
Of those, Tropea has to be the most dra-
matic and beautiful. “Teetering on a cliff
above one of Italy’s purest white beaches,
Tropea is a maze of narrow lanes and
Travel
bergamot trees are blossoming, the citrusy
aroma is “so sweet and thick it’s almost
boozy,” and at sunset, the whole coastline
glows violet.
My visit to an organic vineyard in Crotone
forced me onto a road that has to be
“among the most unattractive in all of
Italy.” But past the rusted power plants
and factories waited a warm welcome from
winemaker Roberto Ceraudo and a place
Scilla: A village barely touched by time to stay that was itself “proof of Calabria’s
raw beauty.” Ceraudo’s bed-and-breakfast,
crumbling charm.” Caper bushes grow Agriturismo Dattilo, is surrounded by
through cracks in the sidewalks, and the 1,200-year-old olive groves “whose peculiar
smell of fallen figs perfumes the air. Tropea golden-brown color complements the glow
comes alive each summer, as Calabrian of the rolling hills in the afternoon light.”
families fill the beaches by day and bring Ceraudo and other ambitious producers
their cheery energy to the pizza and gelato like him are creating hope for the area’s
shops at night. Farther south, the pretty future—“a future in which Calabria writes
fishing village Scilla offers a clearer taste of its own destiny rather than accepting what
the region’s distinctive cuisine. The sword- fate hands it.”
fishermen head out each morning, and At Agriturismo Dattilo (dattilo.it), rooms
dried chiles hang from windows. When the start at $40 a person.

Hotel of the week Getting the flavor of...

Night falls outside a camp tent.
Hoanib Skeleton
Coast Camp
Damaraland, Namibia
You don’t have to sacrifice
luxury for “the privilege of
being more or less alone in
the desert,” said Giles Foden
in Condé Nast Traveller
(U.K.). This new camp off the
Skeleton Coast has just eight
guest tents, “but the word
‘tent’ doesn’t do them any-
thing like justice.” Each has a
polished concrete floor, a vast
panel of glass across from
the bed, and a white canvas
roof that “swoops like a
swan’s wing overhead.” Oryx
wander freely through camp,
and game drives provide
a chance to spot elephants
Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone Cycling in downtown Detroit
The hottest neighborhood in Santa Barbara, Visitors hoping to glimpse how Detroit is remak-
Calif., might also have the worst name, said ing itself should bring their bicycles, said Alexa
Rosemary McClure in the Los Angeles Times. Mills in The Boston Globe. An old train passage
The Funk Zone “sounds like something from the called the Dequindre Cut now provides a 1.35-
’80s that smells—or looks—distasteful.” But the mile cycling path from the downtown waterfront
resurgence of the area dates back only a hand- to the city’s central marketplace, and that short
ful of years, and my nose detected no hint of the excursion offers a fine introduction. From there,
fish processing and other foul-smelling work that “it only takes a little will, and a little imagination
allegedly saddled the industrial area with its mon- to have an exceptional weekend in downtown
iker. Artists were the district’s early colonizers, of Detroit.” At Eastern Market, area farmers—
course, followed by the earliest of the 20 wine- including several who work former urban
tasting rooms that now provide the main draw. lots—sell their produce every Saturday. Venture
Sandwiched between the beach and Highway afield on the city’s bike-friendly roads and you
101, the Funk Zone “isn’t very pretty” even now. can visit urban farm operations like the Oakland
But its shops, galleries, and restaurants bring in Avenue Garden & Greenhouse. Make a pit stop
locals of all ages, including celebrities. When the at Trinosophes, a locavore restaurant that sits
sidewalks aren’t crowded with strollers, they’re next to an art gallery and offers indoor bike
packed with Millennials in line to catch a local parking. From there, cycle by bridge to Belle Isle,
band. “Silly name or not, the zone adds color to a century-old, 982-acre island park in the Detroit
a town that’s pretty but stodgy.” River that is gradually reclaiming its grandeur.
Last-minute travel deals
Charleston luxury Immerse yourself in history European tours made easy
Explore old Charleston, S.C., Get your kids excited about Book by May 31 to save big
this season from the Belmond history with a family trip to on all-inclusive trips to Spain,
Charleston Place. Through Colonial Williamsburg. Through France, and Turkey with pack-
June 30, the 440-room luxury June 11, two-night stays start ages from Keytours Vacations.
eStock Travel, Dana Allen

or some of the last desert-
adapted lions in the world.
wilderness-safaris.com; from
$460 a person
hotel is offering 20 percent
off on suite rates. With the
discount, junior suites start at
$384 a night. Book by June 14.
belmond.com
at $98 a person and come with
theme-park tickets and a one-
day costume rental for every
child under 12.
colonialwilliamsburg.com
An eight-day tour of Spain,
for example, starts at $1,265—
down from $1,425—and
includes stops in five cities.
keytours.com

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 Consumer LEISURE 27

The 2016 Honda HR-V: What the critics say

Motor Trend
Meet “the next star in Honda’s lineup.”
The HR-V, a new subcompact crossover,
takes its platform from the versatile Fit but
starts with a longer, wider wheelbase that
provides a roomier interior and a more
athletic stance. The result is a quick, nimble
mini-ute with a cautiously sporty exterior
that should age well. In brief, it’s “a great
vehicle for a starter family, a person with
pets, or anyone else looking for reliable,
stylish, efficient, and fun transportation.”
Road & Track
Where the HR-V comes up short is in
“underhood oomph.” The same 1.8-liter,
four-cylinder engine found in Honda’s Civic
proves inadequate here: In all-wheel-drive
models, the HR-V requires a full 9.5 sec-
onds to reach 60 mph. Still, this hatchback
coupe disguised as a mini-SUV offers all
the versatility of the remarkable Fit—but
with a far more attractive cabin, plus “street
stance the Fit can only dream about.”
Autoweek
A hipper, roomier Honda subcompact,
We’d choose the manual gearbox because
from $19,115
the alternative—Honda’s continuously vari-
able transmission—“squeezes a lot of joy” thousands of buyers, this efficient, afford-
out of the driving experience. Still, “we’re able crossover will check every box. Think
having a hard time finding reasons to think of it as “the gateway drug for a legion of
the HR-V can go wrong.” For “many, many” future Honda junkies.”

The best of…a smarter home

August Smartlock Hiku Smart Magnet PetNet SmartFeeder

Rachio Iro Sprinkler Like other smart locks, Netatmo Welcome The Hiku fridge magnet This smartphone-
The Iro sprinkler from the easily installed Security Camera makes it easy to keep connected feeding
Rachio saves water and August lets you unlock This forthcoming device and share a shopping bowl, now available for
money by pulling in your front door using will be “a must-have” list via smartphone. The pre-order, helps make
local weather data and your smartphone. But for busy parents of teen- palm-size gadget can sure Fido gets fed when
skipping waterings if you can also send agers. Armed with facial- add items you wish to you’re away. You can
rain has recently fallen “virtual keys” to other recognition technology, restock when you speak automate feeding times,
or is in the immediate people—like a plumber it can identify every the product’s names or remotely manage por-
forecast. It adjusts to or dog walker—and household member and when you use its built- tion sizes, and even
seasonal conditions too. set time limits on their send phone alerts when in scanner to read the gather data on your
$249, rachio.com access. each arrives home. product’s bar code. pet’s eating habits.
Source: Martha Stewart $250, august.com $199, netatmo.com $79, hiku.us $199, petnet.io
Living Source: More Source: Time.com Source: HuffingtonPost.com Source: USA Today

Tip of the week...
Tricks for removing price stickers
QFrom a wooden surface: Grab a clothes
iron and some aluminum foil. Lay the foil
on the sticker and press it with the iron,
using a medium-high setting. The sticker
should peel right off.
QFrom glass: Rub a little baby oil or veg-
etable oil onto the sticker using your fingers
and let the oil soak in for 20 to 30 minutes.
Lift one corner of the sticker when it’s ready
and peel away slowly. For cleaning sticker
residue from a car window, you might also
try this counterintuitive trick: Rub the area a
few times with the sticky side of duct tape,
then clean whatever remains with vinegar
or window cleaner.
QFrom metal: Soften the sticker by laying a
damp paper towel over it for up to an hour.
If the sticker won’t budge, try going at it
with an acetone-based nail polish remover
and a plastic pot scrubber.
Source: Good Housekeeping
And for those who have
everything...
They say the
Nabi Big Tab
is portable, but
“portable” is a
relative term.
This family-
friendly tablet
weighs 13 pounds, and if you prop it on
its kickstand for viewing, “you’ll want to
set it up in an environment where there’s
no possibility of it falling down on your
child.” Still, the Big Tab can be moved from
room to room as needed, and its 24-inch
touch screen proves “a joy to operate when
playing multiplayer games with kids.” The
device can be used to stream TV or films,
too, but provides ample educational content
and lets parents set time limits on their
children’s free game play.
$550, fuhu.com
Source: Gizmag.com
Best apps...
For handling medical emergencies
QPulsePoint makes every user part of an
emergency response team poised to assist
victims of cardiac arrest. In cities that have
adopted PulsePoint, users get an alert on
their phones if they’re within a quarter mile
of someone who may need CPR. And like
every other app on this list, it is free.
Q911HelpSMS makes a user easier for an
ambulance to find in a road accident or
other emergency. A single touch brings up
the app, which shows the user his or her
location and a red button that can place a
call to 911 with another single touch.
QEMNet findER locates the nearest hospi-
tal, which can be useful if you’re far from
home or just in an unfamiliar part of town.
QICEBlueButton lets you keep all pertinent
personal medical information on your
phone. Emergency responders get access
to the data using a bar code.
Source: The Washington Post

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

28 Best properties on the market
This week: Homes in college towns

1 W Berkeley, Calif. Built by Hans Oswald in the 1950s,

this four-bedroom home underwent a $2.5 million
renovation by architect Stanley Saitowitz in the early
2000s. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls around the inter-
nal courtyard allow for natural light throughout. Addi-
tional details include a chef’s kitchen, polished concrete
floors, and a one-bedroom guesthouse. The double-lot
property is near the city’s University of California
campus. $4,250,000. David Gunderman and Andrew
Raskopf, Alain Pinel Realtors, (510) 205-4369

3 5
1
2

2 W Providence, R.I. This six-bedroom house, built in 1847, sits

close to Brown University and four other area schools. The
interior features an open floor plan, a wet bar, a master bedroom
suite, and an in-law suite. The 0.24-acre lot includes a studio and
a private garden. $1,395,000. Donna Krueger-Simmons, Mott &
Chace/Sotheby’s International Realty, (401) 207-9166

3 X Ann Arbor, Mich.

Set on 16 acres, this
four-bedroom home
was designed accord-
ing to Frank Lloyd
Wright’s architectural
principles. Build-
ing elements include
600 tons of stone from
Oklahoma, cherry
wood, and steel. Sur-
rounded by preserved
land, the house is just
a quick drive from the
University of Michi-
gan. $3,250,000. Alex
Milshteyn, Howard
Hanna/Christie’s Inter-
national Real Estate,
(734) 417-3560

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 Best properties on the market 29

4 S Princeton, N.J. Princeton architecture professor Rolf

Bauhan built this six-bedroom house in 1929. Made of
Pennsylvania fieldstone, the manor home features Calcutta
Gold marble kitchen counters, four fireplaces, and a dining
room with a hand-painted mural of Princeton University.
The 1.1-acre property is close to the school and area parks.
$3,250,000. Laura Huntsman, Callaway Henderson/
Sotheby’s International Realty, (609) 731-3507

Steal of the week

5 S Cambridge, Mass. This

seven-bedroom Queen
Anne–style house off
Harvard Square is within
walking distance of Harvard
University. The home was
built in 1886 and is featured
on the National Register
of Historic Places. Details
include a dining room 6 S University City, Mo. Built in 1924, this four-bedroom
with a fireplace and pocket brick home sits across the street from Washington Uni-
doors, a library, and a versity in St. Louis. The Colonial Revival house features
screened-in porch overlook- French doors, hardwood floors, a third-floor sitting room
ing the landscaped property. with park views, and a master bedroom with a balcony.
$4,500,000. Gail Roberts, Outdoor details include a large deck and a fenced-in pool
Coldwell Banker Residential area. $449,000. Amanda Nickens, RE/MAX Results,
Brokerage, (617) 864-4430 (314) 568-1308

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

30
The bottom line
QMillennials between the
ages of 18 and 34 now
constitute more than a third
of the American workforce,
making them the largest
generational cohort work-
ing today. There are about
53.5 million Millennials in
the labor force, followed by
52.7 million Gen Xers, and
44.6 million Baby Boomers.
Fortune.com
QThe death toll from faulty
ignition switches in General
Motors vehicles has topped
100. The automaker once
estimated it was responsible
for only 13 deaths. GM’s
compensation fund is still
reviewing 37 other fatalities.
CNN Money
QA painting by Pablo Pi-
casso set a record this week
for priciest artwork ever sold
at auction. The 1955 painting
Women of Algiers sold to
an anonymous bidder for
$179.4 million. The piece
was last sold in 1997 for
$31.9 million.
The New York Times
QThe top 50 U.S. compa-
nies with the biggest cash
reserves are sitting on a
combined $1.1 trillion, much
of it held overseas, according
to Moody’s Investor Services.
Apple, Microsoft, Google,
Pfizer, and Cisco alone hold a
combined $439 billion in cash.
Financial Times
QAmericans spent $70 bil-
lion playing lottery games
in 43 states last year. At an
average of $300 per adult,
that’s more than was spent
in all 50 states on sports
tickets, books, video games,
movie tickets, and recorded
music combined.
The Atlantic
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
BUSINESS
The news at a glance
Technology: Verizon buys AOL for $4.4B
Verizon wants to do more This deal proves that the future
than sell Americans mobile of media, and by extension
phones, said Mae Anderson advertising, “is about our
in the Associated Press. The phones,” said Farhad Manjoo
nation’s biggest wireless carrier in The New York Times. Tech
announced this week it will buy and media companies are
AOL, “one of the Internet’s scrambling to reposition them-
oldest brands,” for $4.4 bil- selves in the mobile era, which
lion, in a bid to “tap into” has produced a “staggering
the billion-dollar market for shift” in the way people around
Motivated by mobile-ad dollars
selling ads on mobile videos. the globe get their news and
The deal gives Verizon access to AOL’s advanced entertainment. The smartphone industry is now
technology for selling targeted ads and delivering shipping “nearly three times as many devices as
high-quality Web video, sectors in which AOL the personal computer industry did at its peak,”
has invested heavily over the past several years. and companies across the spectrum are “equally
Verizon will also gain control of AOL’s online panicked and excited” about the opportunities
media properties, including The Huffington Post, for profiting. In corporate America, “mobile”
TechCrunch, and Engadget. has become the “magic word.”
Energy: Shell moves closer to Arctic oil drilling An epic Chinese
The Obama administration granted “conditional approval” to Shell this corporate retreat
week to begin exploratory drilling off Alaska’s Arctic coast, said Joby Thousands of employ-
Warrick in The Washington Post. The decision “removes a major obsta- ees of a Chinese
cle to Shell’s years-long effort” to begin Arctic drilling, on which it has direct-sales company
spent $6 billion in preparations. Environmental groups complain there got the vacation of a
have been “well-documented problems with Shell’s previous attempts to lifetime last week, said
conduct exploratory drilling in Arctic waters,” including a drilling plat- Zach Wener-Fligner in
Qz.com. Tiens Group, an
form that ran aground in 2012 off Kodiak Island. Amway-style conglom-
Banking: Banks punished for subprime mortgages erate that sells health-
A federal judge in New York City excoriated two banks this week for care and household
misconduct in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, said Peter Eavis in products, treated 6,400
of its employees to a
The New York Times. Judge Denise L. Cote ruled that Japan’s Nomura
free four-day vacation
Holdings and the Royal Bank of Scotland misled Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac by selling them error-plagued mortgage bonds. “The mag- in France and Monaco,
chartering 84 planes
nitude of falsity, conservatively measured, is enormous,” Cote wrote.
and booking 4,000 hotel
The banks could now be fined as much as $500 million. The case has
rooms. Wearing match-
been closely watched because Nomura and RBS were “the only two ing blue T-shirts, Tiens
of 18 financial firms that took their case to trial”; others, including employees “took over
Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, settled for a collective $18 billion. the Louvre for a visit”
Media: Facebook strikes deal with news outlets and then headed to the
You don’t have to leave Facebook to read The New York Times any- French Riviera, where
more, said Casey Newton in TheVerge.com. The social network began they broke a world
record for the longest
a partnership this week with nine major publishers, including National
human-formed sen-
Geographic, BuzzFeed, and NBC News, to offer “instant articles” from
tence visible from the
the outlets inside users’ News Feeds. Facebook, which will share ad rev- sky, spelling out “Tiens’
enue with the publishers, says the articles will load up to 10 times faster, Dream is Nice in the
since readers stay on Facebook rather than clicking a link to another Côte d’Azur.” The ges-
site. Critics of the deal fear news outlets will become even more depen- ture by the company’s
dent on Facebook, which is already a huge source of traffic for them. founder, billionaire Li
Food: Whole Foods plans lower-cost chain Jinyuan, “appears to
Whole Foods is courting younger, more cost-conscious shoppers, said be part benevolence,
Annie Gasparro in The Wall Street Journal. The natural-foods grocer part publicity stunt.”
plans to launch “a sister chain” of smaller stores aimed at Millennials Critics say Tiens
who want Whole Foods’ “high standards of food quality and eth- exploits its workers,
who are paid solely on
ics” at lower prices. No details on locations or timing have been commission and don’t
announced, but co-CEO John Mackey says the stores will be “hip, earn a direct salary.
AP (2)
cool, and tech-oriented.”
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32 BUSINESS Making money

Housing: Strict new rules for reverse mortgages

Applying for a reverse mortgage just got a lot tougher,
said Kenneth Harney in the Los Angeles
Times. Prior to last month, if you were 62
or older, you “had a good shot at getting” a
reverse mortgage, which allows you to con-
vert equity in your home into monthly cash
payments or a lump sum, depending on your
age and the home’s value. Tens of thousands of
seniors have done it in recent years: A 65-year-
old with a $250,000 home might be allowed
to borrow as much as $127,000. But last month,
the government imposed strict new rules that make
the once simple process “much like applying
for a standard home mortgage.” Applicants New standards for the controversial loans compounds over time, so borrowers often
will now have to provide evidence of their assets and prove they find that they’ve depleted their equity “sooner than expected.”
can continue paying property taxes and insurance premiums.
Lenders will also check borrowers’ credit reports and make
sure they’ve paid real estate taxes “on time for at least the last
24 months.” If borrowers fail any of these tests, they might be
rejected, or required to create a “life expectancy set-aside”—an
escrow account funded from their loan proceeds. For some, the
set-asides could be so substantial, “they’ll be left with minimal
cash at closing,” making the process not worth the effort.
“Critics say the new rules will make it more difficult for con-
sumers with low income or poor credit to obtain reverse mort-
gages,” said Jill Schlesinger in the Chicago Tribune. “But that’s
just the point.” During the recession, thousands
of elderly borrowers fell into default because they
couldn’t pay their property taxes or insurance
premiums. And after property values plummeted
when the housing bubble burst, the Federal
Housing Administration, which underwrites
most reverse mortgages, had to be bailed out
to the tune of $1.7 billion. Regulators hope
the new rules will ensure that reverse-mortgage
borrowers better understand the risks involved,
said Casey Dowd in FoxBusiness.com. Both the
fees and interest rates tend to be higher than with
traditional mortgages. Plus, the interest
These rules will undoubtedly make the reverse-mortgage ap-
plication process less attractive for many seniors, said Richard
Eisenberg in Forbes.com. But “those who do receive reverse
mortgages will have fewer worries about them.” Stricter rules
mean less risk for lenders, which should encourage more com-
panies to get into the business and “help drive down borrow-
ers’ costs.” For guidance on whether a reverse mortgage might
be right for you, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has
a free online guide assessing the pros and cons. You can also
get free counseling through the Department of Housing and
Urban Development.

What the experts say Charity of the week

Taking a retirement test run
From a distance, retirement might seem
“like a slice of heaven,” said Pamela Sams
in MarketWatch.com. But transitioning into
your golden years comes with its share of
challenges. “The longer you prepare, the eas-
ier it will be to attain your goals.” For many,
simply moving from full-time work to full-
time leisure can be stressful. If you’re able,
consider taking a month or two off the year
before retiring. “If you find yourself a little
blue or listless, take this as a red flag.” Not
cashing a regular paycheck will also have a
big impact on your spending habits, so be-
fore taking the leap, look at your income and
assets to develop a postretirement budget. If
you find you can “live happily within your
anticipated means,” the good life awaits.
Passing on a vacation home
Owning a family vacation home “can create
beautiful memories,” said Vickie Elmer in
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. But “without
careful planning, you may find yourself
embroiled in bitter battles over the home’s
future.” The key is creating “a detailed plan
for succession.” Start by sitting down with
your adult children and their spouses to dis-
or sell it outright. Both options have advan-
tages, but it’s essential to know what every-
one’s needs and desires are. If you decide to
keep the house, “draw up a written plan you
all agree to” for covering expenses, mainte-
nance, and a schedule for using the house.
When it comes to “passing it on,” be sure to
consult with an estate-planning lawyer “to
figure out the gift- and estate-tax implica-
tions of a transfer.”
Social Security worries mount
Americans increasingly see Social Security
as a key part of their retirement, said Glenn
Ruffenach in WSJ.com. Thirty-six percent
of American adults who are not yet retired
“expect to rely on Social Security as a
major source of income” when they retire,
10 percent more than a decade ago. Yet even
though the best way to maximize those ben-
efits is to delay claiming them until age 67
or older, fully 73 percent of retirees are re-
ceiving reduced benefits due to early claims.
These stats “come at a time when the Social
Security program itself is straining to meet
demands.” The trust fund is scheduled to
run out in 2033, after which Social Security
recipients could receive just 75 percent of
When
schools are
forced to
cut their
budgets, arts
education
is often the
first thing on
the chopping
block. All
Stars Project
(allstars
.org), founded in 1981, aims to provide
quality arts programs to thousands of
underprivileged youth in New York City,
San Francisco, Chicago, and northern
New Jersey. The organization’s core pro-
gram, the All Stars Talent Show Network,
enables young people to produce and
perform after-school talent shows in their
schools, and to attend local performance
workshops. The Operation Conversation:
Cops & Kids program is designed to fos-
ter positive interactions between police
and inner-city youth, through workshops
that use performances and improvisation
games to build trust and understanding.
Each charity we feature has earned a
four-star overall rating from Charity
Navigator, which rates not-for-profit
organizations on the strength of their
finances, their governance practices,
and the transparency of their operations.
Four stars is the group’s highest rating.
Getty

cuss whether to keep the home in the family their expected benefits.

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

 Best columns: Business 33

Issue of the week: Zappos abolishes bosses

Zappos is in the midst of “a peculiar experiment,”
said Alison Griswold in Slate.com. For the past
year and a half, the Las Vegas–based online shoe
and clothing retailer has embraced the “radical
notion” that employees function better without
managers. CEO Tony Hsieh has abolished job
titles and management positions, implementing
in their place a structure called holacracy, with
self-governing teams of employees organized in
“circles.” In theory, a world without bosses “has
a certain appeal,” but it appears Hsieh’s move-
ment “has stumbled in practice.” Eager to speed
the transition to full holacracy across the com-
pany by April 30, Hsieh recently offered skepti-
cal or dissatisfied employees three months’ pay
to quit if they weren’t on board. In the space of CEO Hsieh: Manage yourself.
a few weeks, 210 employees—14 percent of the
company—took him up on the offer and walked out the door.
It’s easy to see why unconventional Silicon Val-
ley startups might be attracted by the arrange-
ment, said Jena McGregor in The Washington
Post. But for every devotee, it seems there’s
also a frustrated critic calling the structure
“impersonal, dogmatic, and comically hard
to explain,” with “protocol-driven meetings”
and jargon that makes typical corporate lingo
“sound like poetry.” I, for one, don’t under-
stand why Hsieh wanted to transition Zappos
to self-management in the first place, said Dan
Pontefract in Forbes.com. The online retailer is
famous for its quirky, happy culture, but clearly
“there is something amiss, if not awry” when a
company can so quickly lose 14 percent of its
workforce. With no obvious business rationale
behind this transition, Zappos could destroy
what it has built if this is just “change for the sake of change.”

It’s unsurprising that holacracy “feels weird to most newcom-
ers,” said Adam Pisoni in Fast Company. It’s a stark departure
from the top-down “command and control” operating model
that has dominated business for more than a century, but it’s
far better if you want to create a nimble, adaptive company
that encourages experimentation and transparency. A company
becomes less of a dictatorship and more of a democracy. And
far from encouraging chaos, holacracy “relies on rules and pro-
cess.” Circles “can be created or destroyed anytime” to focus
on new challenges and opportunities, and titles and rank are
de-emphasized in favor of “roles” that can be adjusted or reas-
signed without bruising egos.
“The fact that a chief executive has to order a change to a
system with no chief executive is only one of the apparent con-
tradictions here,” said Andrew Hill in FT.com. “But while I am
skeptical” of Zappos’ move, I’m the first to admit holacracy
could offer traditional corporations some tips. Recognizing team
members for their contributions, not their titles, for example, “is
compelling.” Research has also shown that “shared leadership”
among executives does indeed “improve creativity and perfor-
mance.” But Zappos’ exceedingly fast transition leaves much to
be desired. And if it creates “further pain and confusion,” the
“shouts of ‘I told you so’ will almost certainly drown out the
voices” that say Hsieh is on to something special.

Prosecutors say human greed is to blame for the
How robots 2010 “flash crash,” but it’s the robots we should
can crash worry about, said James Surowiecki. Most trad-
ing today “has nothing to do” with a company’s
our markets fundamentals. “It’s all about what the market is
going to do in the very short term—often a matter
James Surowiecki of milliseconds,” with much of the decision mak-
The New Yorker ing left to computers. Navinder Sarao is accused of
“spoofing” these robot traders in 2010 with mil-
lions of fake buy and sell orders so he could buy
low and sell high. Such shenanigans “are nothing
new,” but market manipulators used to need actual
assets and trades to make their schemes work.
Now, “you just need to convince some robots that
trades might happen”—mere “appearance begets
reality.” And since high-speed firms tend to mimic
one another’s moves, fake orders can unleash a cas-
cade of actual buying and selling, with wild price
swings in the blink of an eye. Automation hasn’t
been all bad, of course; markets today are faster,
cheaper, and more efficient. But they are also “fun-
damentally less stable, and more prone to sudden
and inexplicable breakdowns.” They are “moving
themselves much of the time.” That’s how “a tril-
lion dollars can vanish in a matter of minutes, even
though the real world hasn’t changed at all.”

There’s something for everyone in the April jobs
Our half-empty, report, said Neil Irwin. If you’re a “temperamen-
half-full tal pessimist,” the addition of 223,000 jobs “is a
meaningful step down” from the 324,000 aver-
economy aged during the last three months of 2014. More
depressing: March’s “already tepid job numbers”
Neil Irwin were revised down to just 85,000, and wages
The New York Times notched a “mere 0.1 percent gain in hourly pay.”
But those who favor “sunshine, rainbows, and al-
ways looking on the bright side of life” have their
own reasons to celebrate. The unemployment rate
dropped from 5.5 to 5.4 percent, and job creation
Getty
ing the economy is heading back “to full health.”
Both sides are right, but what we should all be
feeling is “relief.” Economic growth stalled in the
first quarter of 2015, and retail sales and industrial
output were underwhelming. Thankfully, the April
jobs numbers reassure us this isn’t a trend. “If
the economy were truly sputtering,” job growth
would have slowed more, the unemployment rate
wouldn’t have fallen, and wages wouldn’t keep
inching up. That said, the numbers don’t show a
“new, stepped-up rate of growth,” which analysts
had hoped for this year. For now, “the steady-as-

continues to outstrip population growth, suggest- she-goes recovery remains exactly that.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

34 Obituaries
The House speaker who resigned in scandal The female race car
driver who shattered
Jim Jim Wright dramatic speaking style” stereotypes
Wright spent 30 years that “made him seem like
1922–2015 climbing the a visitor from the 19th Denise McCluggage’s love
political ladder century.” Over the next of cars began early. At age
to become speaker of the three decades, Wright 6, she saw a Baby Austin 7
House of Representatives. “earned a reputation as a parked near her home and
pleaded for Santa to bring
Never afraid to ruffle feathers, pork-barrel politician, going
her one.
the Texas Democrat proved to great lengths to cater to Denise She got
an exceptionally successful his district’s needs,” said McCluggage her driver’s
legislative leader. Yet after just the Los Angeles Times. He 1927–2015 license at
two years at the top, Wright steered a number of defense 14 and in
became only the fourth speaker in U.S. history to contracts to Texas, and was, in the words of one 1959 became the first woman
resign his post, amid allegations he was receiving local labor leader, always doing “something for to win a sports-car event
kickbacks from business associates and lobbyists. someone” in his home state. at Thompson Raceway in
Convinced his defenestration was a partisan Connecticut, with a Porsche
“Wright’s sharp mind and sharp elbows” eventu- RS. Wearing her trademark
act, Wright unleashed one of the House’s more
ally secured him the top job in the House, said white helmet with black
memorable resignation speeches. “Let me give polka dots, she could still
The Washington Post. As speaker, he “often pit-
you back this job you gave me, as a propitiation be found lapping the track
ted himself against the Reagan administration”
for all this season of ill will,” he boomed. “All of at auto events well into her
and was instrumental in brokering a landmark
us in both political parties must resolve to bring 80s. But McCluggage never
peace deal between Nicaragua’s Contra rebels
this period of mindless cannibalism to an end.” considered herself a pioneer
and President Daniel Ortega’s government. After in the male-dominated world
“The son of an adman, Wright grew up in Texas his resignation in 1989, Wright taught politi- of racing. “She was only
and Oklahoma,” said The Wall Street Journal. cal science at Texas Christian University. But he attempting what every other
After serving as a pilot in World War II, he never forgave his political opponents—especially driver on the track was trying
began his political career in 1947, at age 23, as a Newt Gingrich, who spearheaded the push for an to do,” said automotive writer
member of the Texas House of Representatives. ethics investigation. Asked for his feelings toward Matt Stone: “Win the race.”
He was elected to the U.S. House seven years Gingrich in 1988, Wright said they were “similar Born in El Dorado, Kan.,
later and soon became known for a “flowery, to those of a fire hydrant toward dogs.” McCluggage graduated from
Mills College in Oakland,
Calif., before joining The New
York Herald Tribune as a rare
The folksinger who popularized ‘We Shall Overcome’ female sportswriter, said The
New York Times. She covered
Guy One April night in Tenn., “one of the wellsprings skiing, parachuting, and other
Carawan 1960, Guy Carawan of the civil rights movement.” It extreme sports, most of
1927–2015 stood in front of was there that Carawan—along which she attempted herself.
civil rights activists with Highlander music director She also convinced her
in Raleigh, N.C., and sang a Zilphia Horton and fellow folk editors that she could “better
little-known folk song called “We artists Frank Hamilton and Pete report on auto racing from
behind the wheel than in the
Shall Overcome.” It wasn’t the Seeger—created the reworked press box,” thanks to the fact
musician’s own work; the tune and version of “We Shall Overcome,” that “raceways prohibited
lyrics had been around in some said the Los Angeles Times. female journalists from
form for decades. But Carawan’s After Carawan’s performance interviewing male drivers.”
rendition resonated deeply with the in Raleigh, “the song spread
In 1958, McCluggage
crowd, and within weeks “We Shall like wildfire.” It was sung at
co-founded Competition
Overcome” had become the anthem demonstrations and funerals, and Press, the country’s first
of the civil rights movement. “It chanted in cell blocks. President motor-sports weekly, which
is one of the most powerful, at the same time, Lyndon Johnson referenced it when announcing a “would eventually evolve
sacred moments when we would say, ‘We shall voting rights bill; Martin Luther King Jr. “invoked into today’s Autoweek,”
overcome,’” said movement leader John Lewis, it in some of his most famous speeches.” said CarAndDriver.com. She
now a congressman. “It gave you a sense of retired from professional
During the 1960s, Carawan and his collabora- racing in the late 1960s, but
faith, a sense of strength to continue to struggle,
tors obtained a copyright for the song, “and continued writing and driving
to continue to push on.”
directed future proceeds to a fund benefiting art for the rest of her life. When
“The son of Southern parents, Guy Hughes and activism in black communities,” said The asked why she hadn’t written
Carawan Jr. was born in Santa Monica, Calif.,” Washington Post. Carawan and his wife later her memoirs, she said
said The New York Times. A keen musician, released several books and albums related to the that she intended to write
he became “deeply interested in the use of folk civil rights struggle. But he remained devoted to something “biographical, and
‘auto’ by definition” on her
music to foster social progress” while studying “We Shall Overcome.” During one performance
car blog. “Thus over time,”
sociology at the University of California, Los in 2003, he snapped at the audience for overly
Corbis, Getty

she wrote, it “will be my

Angeles. In 1953, Carawan moved to the enjoying it. “Too many people died,” he scolded, ‘Auto-Biography.’”
Highlander Folk School, then in Monteagle, “to be smiling about this song.”

THE WEEK May 22, 2015

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36 The last word
Learning how to dunk
At 34, I gave myself a year to dunk a basketball, said Asher Price. Could my aging body learn a new trick?

E
VERYBODY WANTS to dunk, obviously harder to overcome.
at least metaphorically. We Americans have long thought
think that if we spent just that they could move on up, as
a year away from our everyday they say in The Jeffersons. They
distractions, we could rise above believe in self-made men, and
our terrestrial lot: learn Spanish, that’s what I was trying to do:
pick up the piano, remaster cal- remake myself.
culus, paint. In our fantasies, we
think we might all be naturals— I was no kid, making this my
capable of mastering some last chance to dunk. I gave
talent hidden inside us. A few myself from the end of one
years ago, The Onion cheekily August to the end of the next
mocked our unspent dreams in to improve. It was a year to dis-
an obituary with the headline cover whether, embedded in my
“97-Year-Old Dies Unaware of bones, muscles, and DNA, was
Being Violin Prodigy.” some grand jumping potential.
A year was long enough to
The notion of a “hidden tal- train my feet, hips, legs, and
ent” can haunt, too. My mother butt in the strange art of explo-
stopped making art after a sive movement. Any longer and
junior high school teacher I figured I’d see diminishing
told her she had little talent; returns.
she became an art historian

T
O TRANSFORM MY
instead, her days spent tromp-
ing through museums to exam- average-Joe body into a
ine other people’s work. It’s a With the rim 10 feet high, dunking requires explosive jumping power. svelte jumping machine,
familiar story: We leave our singing in the I had decided to get some pro-
shower. Most adults never bother to pick with jumping ability. At the start of this fessional help. If I was truly going to test
up a violin, write fiction, or learn other project I could only swipe the rim with my capabilities and scientifically go about
languages. Why acquire a talent just to the tips of my middle and index fingers. monitoring my performance, I needed some
explore its limits? I owned healthy love handles—I weighed top-shelf trainers on board.
203 pounds—so I was going to have to lose
I meant to take the dunking metaphor liter- weight and put on muscle. I hadn’t expected anyone to take me seri-
ally: I wanted to slam a basketball through ously. I wanted to dunk, yes, but the notion
an orange rim. My quest was to make the But I had some things going for me: of an adult going deliberately about it
most of the piece of flesh I’d been given. At height—I’m 6 feet, 2½ inches, with orang- seemed ridiculous. I wrote emails: “I’m
the extreme margin of human talent and utan arms; what a former coworker once interested in the limits of human potential,”
effort, elite athletes stretch the boundaries called a “big ol’ sprinter’s butt,” just the I explained, as I laid out my project. And
that define our capabilities as a species. Will kind of powerful posterior I’d need to pro- then: “I want to dunk.” Many of these
there come a day, the former Trinidadian pel myself hoopward; and, as I neared my emails, unsurprisingly, went unanswered.
sprinter Ato Boldon was once asked, when 34th birthday, some leftover sportiness. (I
And then a real-life scientist, a very nice
someone runs the 100-meter dash in less had never played a varsity sport, but once
man named Stephen Doty, who had played
than nine seconds? (The record is now upon a time I had captained my college
high school basketball in the 1950s, wrote
9.58 seconds, set by Usain Bolt.) “Sprinters Frisbee team.) I had never weight-lifted, me back. “What a great idea for a story. I,
believe that—someday—somebody will either—I despise weight lifting—and so, to
too, only reached the rim, never over it.”
run the 100 meters and the clock will read my mind, at least, I remained a tabula rasa.
0.00,” Boldon said. “It’s how you have “Pure potential,” my wife, Rebecca, said, A couple of weeks later, I found myself hus-
to think. This idea of human limitation is with a not-so-small degree of skepticism. tling to Manhattan’s swank Upper East Side
exactly what we’re competing against.” neighborhood to meet Stephen, a senior
In its bones this is a peculiarly American
scientist who specialized in the loss of bone
I would never run as fast as Bolt or Boldon. story, a story about optimism, about density at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
But the test I had set for myself was just self-reliance, about the ability to remake
He introduced me to a crew of physical
possibly manageable: Given my height and oneself. The dunk is, yes, as American as
trainers who had gamely agreed to help me.
vague athleticism, I felt that with a lot of jazz or apple pie. But it stretches beyond
effort I should be able to push a nine-and-a- that—it is literally about upward mobil- The hospital’s Performance Lab looks a
half-inch ball through a 10-foot-high hoop. ity, about the very American idea that little like an overgrown, high-end preschool
everyone is capable of self-improvement, of playroom: Large, brightly colored inflat-
I faced some challenges. I’m of Austro- rising above her lot. For me, the test was able balls sit on the softly matted ground.
Hungarian stock—more closely associ- physical; for others, the barriers, involv- Stacks of stepping blocks stand in a corner.
Getty

ated with making good pastries than ing everything from class to gender, are Fluorescent lights buzz overhead. This is

THE WEEK May 22, 2015


where the New York Knicks have been put
through their paces.
“So we’re going to get you to dunk, right?”
Polly de Mille, a handsome, sandy-haired
reed of a woman said. Over three hours,
Polly put me through a battery of exercises
to test my capabilities. Or “deficiencies,” as
one of her colleagues described them. As it
turned out, I was quite deficient.
She began by taking baseline measurements
of my body, an accounting of my flesh-and-
blood vital statistics. First she performed
a skinfold test. I felt a little like a piece of
meat on a hook as she measured the body
fat around my chest, arms, and legs with
a pair of calipers. Her findings: About a
fifth of my overall weight was body fat,
just worse than average for men my age.
Between my love handles were the modest
beginnings of a gut.
Polly, who wore a T-shirt that said “Train
Like a Knick,” told me that basketball
players have body-fat percentages of only
10 percent. To reach that goal, and achieve
the physique of a prototypical dunker, at my
current level of fat-free mass, I would have
to cut my overall weight to 171.6 pounds.
And it fast became apparent I would have
to add some serious muscle. “We want
you to be strong enough so that it feels like
you’re jumping off a solid concrete plat-
form,” Polly told me.
We were joined by Jamie, a small, muscular
trainer. “We’re putting together a 52-week
regimen for you,” he said. He had gotten
up at 5:30 that morning to finish it up. I get
up that early only if I have to catch an air-
plane. As I lay down to do some crunches,
I suddenly didn’t want to disappoint these
two people. They already believed in me
more than I did. Beneath those fluorescent
lights, I told myself I would succeed—I
would slam the ball home.
T
HE DAY OF the dunk was a Monday
in late August. It was my last
chance. I had taken it easy the pre-
vious few days, tapering off my workouts
to rest my leg muscles before their big
liftoff. I felt fresh and loose. Charles, my
trainer, dribbled the ball by the basket,
and I readied myself at half-court, run-
ning through, in my mind’s eye, the keys
to getting up.
A small audience gathered: Rebecca, for
moral support; Charles’ assistant, Terrell;
a half-dozen or so 12-year-olds, all aspir-
Rebecca Markovits
ing dunkers, who took a break from their
basketball game to watch. It was like high
noon, a face-off between me, at half-court,
and my nemesis, the rim.
The last word
On the first jump, I exploded up, swatting
the ball toward the back iron and then
hanging, for a second, on the rim. Yes, I
was ready. Everyone was watching, egging
me on. I was getting higher up than I ever
really thought possible, but I was not quite
putting the dunk down.
Again, again, the ball would leave my
hand, only to rattle against the inside back
Price warming up for practice
lip of the rim, and out. I could not get my
arm high enough for the right angle to slam
it true. Fifteen tries. I glanced down at the
palm of my left hand to find the joints of
my middle and forefinger bloodied from
scraping against the rim.
Twenty minutes later, and my body was
out of energy. I had swatted the ball into
the hoop, but these efforts didn’t quite have
the feel and control—the snap—that sug-
gested a true dunk. Charles had thrown the
ball up perfectly, tossing it so that it hung
in the air like a full moon, and I had, more
times than not, gotten my palm onto it. But
I hadn’t quite gotten all the way on top of
the ball—it was just an inch too far—and
so I was left slapping the ball toward the
basket and hoping it would rattle in.
A few did, and a few of these felt right—
there had been something of that snap-
pish feeling, and the friction of my sliding
hand against the warm, curved metal—but
as soon as I landed and twisted toward
Charles, I would see him shaking his head.
“So I didn’t dunk it?” I’d ask, sincerely
unsure and genuinely hopeful. He’d turn
to one of the folks watching—a bearded
paunchy guy in glasses, another gymgoer
caught up in the hullaballoo. “Almost,” he
said, holding his thick thumb and forefin-
ger in the air, a delicate centimeter apart.
37
This stranger, this random witness, casually
pinching my potential between his fingers
like a bug.
They were turning away, now, the boys,
one by one standing up and going back to
their kids’ basket in the corner of the gym,
blithely dunking and horsing around. The
moment of possibility had imperceptibly
turned to a moment of desperation.
Charles had a client waiting now. His next
appointment. My year was up.
“Just once more,” he said for the fifth time.
I relaxed. I imagined that thousands of fans
were stomping their feet, that cheerlead-
ers waved their pom-poms, that Michael
Jordan himself was watching, and that
Rebecca, filming all this, was NBC televi-
sion. This was it, the last gasp. I pumped
my knees, flew forward, planted hard,
drove myself up through the air.
I couldn’t quite get my hand over the rim.
Perhaps if I had tried a thousand more
times, like a kid mastering a video game, I
would have. But I hadn’t. I had failed.
M
ONTHS AFTER MY final dunk
attempt, a bag of protein-shake
mix slumps untouched in the
kitchen. My gym membership is long can-
celed. But I still play pickup basketball.
I’m quicker, partly as a matter of confi-
dence. I take guys off the dribble, or back
them up in the post and try a turnaround
jumper—my elevation is still better than it
was before I began my crazy experiment.
I emerged sinewy, tough, and lean. My
weight remains pretty good. I eat dessert
more freely and am back to my happy
pasta-eating ways. But asceticism clings. I
used to be a whole-milk person; now I’m
a 1 percent kind of guy. I’ve been known,
even now, to decline the services of a bun
with my burger. It’s a little sad.
One evening every couple of weeks, just as
the sun starts to set and the grackles muster
along the power lines for their evening gab-
fest, I make my way to the nearby middle
school track to do a lonely set of sprints.
I put myself through some push-ups and
sit-ups, lowering myself to the ground with
the enthusiasm of a man getting into a cold
bath. It’s mostly vanity now. This is what
happens once you’ve found yourself with a
six-pack, with higher hops. You find it hard
to let yourself go. But I’m trying.
Adapted from Year of the Dunk: A Modest
Defiance of Gravity. Copyright © 2015
by Asher Price. Published by Crown
Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random
House LLC.
THE WEEK May 22, 2015
38 The Puzzle Page
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