<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Harper&#039;s Magazine</title> <atom:link href="https://harpers.org/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link></link> <description></description> <lastBuildDate>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 05:40:27 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1</generator> <image> <url>https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/cropped-android-chrome-512x512-1-32x32.png</url> <title>Harper&#039;s Magazine</title> <link></link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-trump-musk-patel-fbi-atf-resign-park-bathrooms-bernie-fighting-oligarchy-harris-caa-grimes-milei-merz-pigs-hooters-bird-flu-pope-beards-rules-hoopla/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:35:22 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=292049</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The Trump Administration fired the only locksmith at Yosemite National Park, who holds all of the park keys, which are sometimes used to help rescue visitors locked in park bathrooms.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-trump-musk-patel-fbi-atf-resign-park-bathrooms-bernie-fighting-oligarchy-harris-caa-grimes-milei-merz-pigs-hooters-bird-flu-pope-beards-rules-hoopla/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The newly appointed FBI director, Kash Patel, who has also been tapped to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told his employees to ignore Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s latest directive, which demands federal employees respond with five bullet points explaining what they have accomplished in the past week and comes with the stipulation that “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-director-kash-patel-atf-justice-department-e57250b2ac883af1c2fa7b4bf46ad876" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/23/elon-musk-tells-us-federal-workers-to-explain-what-they-achieved-last-week-or-be-fired" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/22/politics/elon-musk-employees-emails/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} ^{<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1893386883444437415" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} At least one labor council representing federal prison union locals chastised the order, writing in a statement that it is “ridiculous and lacks in the understanding and acknowledgement of what these brave men and women do every day for this great country.”^{<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1893386883444437415" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} The Trump Administration fired the only locksmith at Yosemite National Park, who holds all of the park keys, which are sometimes used to help rescue visitors locked in park bathrooms.^{<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/02/19/national-parks-firings-employees-chaos/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} Bernie Sanders kicked off his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour that targets districts in the Midwest that Trump won by small margins; thousands attended the rallies in Omaha, Nebraska, and Iowa City, with both events filling up overflow spaces.^{<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-sanders-donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.press-citizen.com/picture-gallery/news/politics/2025/02/22/bernie-sanders-fighting-the-oligarchy-tour-iowa-city-photos/79632335007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} ^{<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/02/22/overflow-omaha-crowd-launches-u-s-sen-bernie-sanders-fighting-oligarchy-tour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} The former vice president Kamala Harris joined Joe Biden in signing with Creative Artists Agency with a focus on speaking engagements and publishing opportunities; in a statement, the agency said that it plans to work closely with Harris to create “strategic opportunities that expand her platform in support of the issues she has championed throughout her decades-long career in public service.”^{<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/19/kamala-harris-caa-creative-artists-agency/79216896007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.instagram.com/creativeartistsagency/p/DGQ99TRS1rb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} Musk, who has been at the center of custody disputes with the musician Grimes and the </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Babylon Bee</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> employee Ashley St. Clair, who respectively mother three and one of his children, was seen wielding a chainsaw at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference with Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, who is embroiled in a cryptocurrency scandal after promoting $LIBRA in an alleged “pump and dump” scheme that collectively lost investors millions of dollars, and the AfD party in Germany, which has been accused of Nazi sympathies, finished second in the national election, behind Friedrich Merz&#8217;s CDU party, in the strongest showing for a far-right party since the Third Reich. ^{<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/grimes-very-publicly-begs-elon-musk-to-stop-being-a-deadbeat-dad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://nypost.com/2025/02/22/us-news/ashley-st-clair-sues-elon-musk-for-paternity-custody-of-their-six-month-old-son/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/musk-chainsaw-milei-trump-cpac-doge-d8fa68fb9aecd355772ed6529fcb615e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/musk-chainsaw-trump-doge-6568e9e0cfc42ad6cdcfd58a409eb312" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a> <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/02/20/javier-mileis-crypto-misadventure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/16/americas/argentina-milei-libra-cryptocurrency-impeachment-calls-intl-latam/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-main-stock-index-falls-after-milei-crypto-scandal-2025-02-17/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a> <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/27bcc19e-d422-4fac-ac08-5b76c1095e52" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Super pigs” wreaked havoc on the U.S.–Canada border; after a second deadly attack, pigs in Piedmont, Alabama, were put down; and a grand jury recommended the abolition of the Hanceville, Alabama, police force after determining that the department, of which every officer is currently on administrative leave, represents “an ongoing threat to public safety.”^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/wild-super-pigs-wreak-havoc-around-us-canada-border/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/entire-alabama-police-department-put-leave-grand-jury-recommends-aboli-rcna192982" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/entire-alabama-police-department-put-leave-grand-jury-recommends-aboli-rcna192982" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} As patronage dries up, the chain restaurant Hooters, which was acquired by a private-equity partnership in 2019, prepared to file for bankruptcy as it sorts out a $300 million debt with counsel from the firm Ropes &amp; Gray.^{<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-25/hooters-restaurant-chain-taps-advisers-to-address-debt-as-revenue-falls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/21549-private-equity-firm-acquires-hooters#:~:text=TAMPA%20BAY%2C%20Fla.,North%20Carolina%2Dbased%20Chanticleer%20Holdings." target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} A zoo in New Bedford, Massachusetts, announced that a 21-year-old harbor seal succumbed to bird flu, a zoo in Syracuse, New York, shuttered its bird exhibits in an attempt to prevent the spread of bird flu, and in Florida, egg enthusiasts explored raising or renting their own chickens to avoid egg price inflation caused by bird flu.^{<a href="https://www.wcvb.com/article/seal-death-avian-flu-buttonwood-park-zoo-new-bedford-massachusetts/63853402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} ^{<a href="https://cnycentral.com/news/local/syracuse-zoo-makes-changes-because-of-avian-flu-rosamond-gifford-bird-animals-massachusetts-seal-buttonwood-park" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/23/florida-backyard-chickens-eggs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/rent-backyard-chickens-cost-egg-prices" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} In Ireland, a bird dropped the severed hand of a 12-year old boy over a schoolyard.^{<a href="https://metro.co.uk/2025/02/21/severed-human-hand-found-near-school-dropped-bird-22604332/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} A homeowners’ association in Las Vegas is working to “humanely” relocate hundreds of invasive goldfish that have once again taken over the Cadence Central Park Pond, and the European Union and Sweden are working to bolster their maritime security after the suspected sabotage of several sea cables, which authorities believe was Russian retaliation for the E.U.’s defense of Ukraine, which relies on continued European and U.S. support as President Volodymyr Zelensky negotiates a potential peace deal brokered by the United States and Trump, who recently called Zelensky a dictator.^{<a href="https://www.fox5vegas.com/2025/02/18/hundreds-invasive-goldfish-return-las-vegas-valley-park-pond/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/world/europe/baltic-sea-cable-sweden.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/world/europe/ukraine-trump-mineral-deal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5nydr9rqvo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/ukraine-and-u-s-negotiating-continued-military-aid-in-exchange-for-access-to-mineral-resources" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/politics/trump-zelensky-rift-ukraine-war/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} A Catholic hospital in Ohio is facing charges after refusing police orders to search a man&#8217;s anal cavity for drugs, saying the procedure would have been “morally wrong,” and Pope Francis is still alive and being treated at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Italy, despite confusion after RTÉ News reported that he “passed a peaceful night.”^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/drug-bust-feud-lorain-ohio-police-catholic-hospital-rcna186906" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/0219/1497565-pope-francis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} ^{<a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-pope-passed-a-peaceful-night" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A man sneezed out his intestines, but was released from the hospital less than a week later after a “reassuring abdominal examination,” a woman was heralded as a “cone-noisseur” after Hudsonville Ice Cream named her the Ultimate Ice Cream Fan, the FDA classified the now-recalled Mombo Vanilla Soft Serve Ice Cream Mix as Class I, because it “could cause severe or even life-threatening allergic reactions,” and an Alabama senator introduced a bill to exclude sweets from SNAP benefits.^{<a href="https://www.abcactionnews.com/us-news/weird/man-sneezes-several-loops-of-his-intestines-out-of-his-body-while-eating-breakfast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fox17online.com/news/morning-news/ice-cream-of-the-crop-hudsonville-ice-cream-names-ultimate-fan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ice-cream-recall-fda-update-2034962" target="_blank" rel="noopener">41</a>} ^{<a href="https://mynbc15.com/amp/news/local/al-senators-bill-seeks-to-exclude-soda-ice-cream-desserts-from-snap-benefits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">42</a>} Burkina Faso celebrated the opening of its new Moulin Double Star Mill, with a daily processing capacity of 220 tons of flour and 80 tons of bran, which was established in an effort to boost domestic industry.^{<a href="https://www.world-grain.com/articles/21068-burkina-faso-inaugurates-flour-mill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">43</a>} After three consecutive years of growth, a new report shows worker strikes are down in Portugal last year, with 1,099 instances of organized work stoppages.^{<a href="https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2025-02-23/strikes-down-by-27/95770" target="_blank" rel="noopener">44</a>} Victor Wembanyama, the starting center of the San Antonio Spurs, ended his season and bid for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, and the New York Yankees reversed a near-fifty-year beard ban, which prompted former team captain Derek Jeter to celebrate by posting an AI image of himself donning full facial hair, with the caption: “New Rules!”^{<a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43937353/spurs-shut-victor-wembanyama-blood-clot-shoulder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yankees-facial-hair-policy-7238acee720fe2017b2cb2691ba5531e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">46</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DGWVgQXSayb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">47</a>}</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Hoopla, a popular e-book vendor, faced criticism after distributing AI-generated books to libraries, and while the company assured its clients in an email that it is doing the work to “learn, grow, and continuously improve,” one librarian said they put their trust in Hoopla, but “Hoopla has broken this trust.”^{<a href="https://www.404media.co/public-library-ebook-service-to-cull-ai-slop-after-404-media-investigation-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">48</a>}</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—Peter Lucas</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-trump-musk-patel-fbi-atf-resign-park-bathrooms-bernie-fighting-oligarchy-harris-caa-grimes-milei-merz-pigs-hooters-bird-flu-pope-beards-rules-hoopla/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-eric-adams-merchant-of-death-rikers-island-munich-security-conference-pete-hegseth-neo-nazi-bombs-trigger-warnings-trigger-fingers-whale-shark-capybara-opossum/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:35:05 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=292022</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” wrote the president on social media, a sentiment expressed by the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik that has been attributed to the French imperial dictator Napoleon Bonaparte.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-eric-adams-merchant-of-death-rikers-island-munich-security-conference-pete-hegseth-neo-nazi-bombs-trigger-warnings-trigger-fingers-whale-shark-capybara-opossum/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Department of Justice ordered federal prosecutors in New York to drop corruption charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams.^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/eric-adams-indictment-109ef48bd49bc8adc1850709c99bf666" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} In a memo providing rationale for the decision, the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, wrote that the charges against the mayor have “unduly restricted” his ability to devote his full attention to “illegal immigration and violent crime,” and that accomplishing President Trump’s immigration agenda was “every bit as important” as the Biden Administration’s prisoner exchange of Brittney Griner for arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.”^{<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25517976-doj-eric-adams-memo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/world/europe/viktor-bout-brittney-griner.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/us/politics/brittney-griner-prisoner-swap.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, resigned over the directive, writing in a letter of her own that she was “confident that Adams has committed the crimes with which he is charged,” and that her office had been preparing to bring further charges against him, including the claim that he “destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence,” provided false information to the FBI, and conducted a fraudulent donor scheme.^{<a href="https://gothamist.com/news/acting-manhattan-us-attorney-quits-departure-follows-trump-order-to-drop-charges-against-mayor-adams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} Four of Adams’s deputy mayors resigned in the wake of the dropped charges, as did five lawyers involved with the public integrity section of the Department of Justice.^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/four-senior-aides-new-york-mayor-adams-resign-media-report-2025-02-17/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fox5ny.com/news/4-senior-deputies-mayor-eric-adams-resign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/nyregion/danielle-sassoon-quit-eric-adams.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} A few days after the motion was filed for charges to be dropped, Adams met with Tom Homan, the federal border czar, and announced that he would pass an executive order allowing Immigrations Customs Enforcement to operate on Rikers Island, even though a 2014 law prohibits New York’s Department of Correction from working with ICE, barring cases of serious or violent crime.^{<a href="https://gothamist.com/news/mayor-adams-plans-executive-order-allowing-ice-presence-at-rikers-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/judge-orders-hearing-for-motion-to-dismiss-corruption-charges-against-new-york-city-mayor-eric-adams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} “I just think people are making a lot about nothing,” said Homan.^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-border-czar-tom-homan-calls-eric-adams-quid-quo-allegation-ridic-rcna192403" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} Trump, who in the past few weeks has fired at least a dozen government watchdogs, ordered a pause on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that prohibits companies that operate in the United States from paying foreign government officials to secure business.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yveml59jlo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/trump-fcpa-bribery-law-corruption.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” wrote the president on social media, a sentiment expressed by the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik that has been attributed to the French imperial dictator Napoleon Bonaparte.^{<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114009179225169296" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-bonaparte-anders-breivich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} ^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-stokes-alarm-view-presidential-power-apparent-napoleon/story?id=118898574" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>} </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">U.S. officials traveled to Germany to participate in the Munich Security Conference, and while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited a U.S. military installation in Germany, two dozen people heckled, booed, and chanted “DEI” at him, and JD Vance met with the leader of Alternative für Deutschland, a neo-Nazi political party, to deliver a speech encouraging Europe to stop shunning far-right parties.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/12/pete-hegseth-dei-protest-germany" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/us/politics/hegseth-ukraine-russia.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/hegseth-protest-dei-transgender-germany-military-rcna191636" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/jd-vance-alice-weidel-meeting-germany-far-right" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/what-you-need-to-know-about-afd-elon-musks-favourite-german-party/articleshow/117207405.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/world/europe/vance-europe-immigration-ukraine.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} “Some of the things I say will be incorrect,” said Elon Musk, who had claimed that $50 million worth of condoms were sent to Gaza, Palestine, when they were, in fact, sent to Gaza, Mozambique, to protect people against HIV.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2025/feb/12/musk-says-he-will-make-mistakes-and-that-he-double-checks-with-trump-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} It was reported that a man in Miami Beach shot two men whom he thought were Palestinians but were actually Israeli tourists.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/17/miami-shooting-israeli-men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} Trump ordered any demining groups that subsisted on U.S. funding to stop their work, and then said “We’ll … be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site” before redeveloping Gaza, a redevelopment plan to which the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “committed.”^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/us/politics/trump-gaza-bombs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/17/netanyahu-committed-to-trumps-plan-to-take-over-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} More than 175 unexploded bombs from the Second World War were found under an English playground, and the ruins of a 2,000-year-old Roman basilica were found under an English office.^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/10/world/europe/wwii-bombs-playground-england.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/world/europe/london-roman-basilica.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} The University of West England added more than 200 trigger warnings to Shakespeare’s plays, including for such things as “knives,” “extreme weather,” “witchcraft” and “references to wild animal attack.”^{<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/university-trigger-warnings-shakespeare-the-tempest-b1209910.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} “Our fingers are on the trigger,” said the leader of the Houthis, warning that should the ceasefire in Gaza break down, they would be prepared to launch an attack on Israel.^{<a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/yemeni-rebels-warn-fingers-trigger-34664528" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">More than one million Igloo coolers were recalled after reports of fingertip amputations, a woman in Vero Beach, Florida, allegedly shot two teenagers with a BB gun after they gave her the bird, and in the Finger Lakes, a man was arrested for biting a woman’s fingers.^{<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5297680/igloo-cooler-recall-amputations#:~:text=Igloo%20recalls%20over%20a%20million%20coolers%20after%20handle%20hazard%20causes%20fingertip%20amputations,-February%2014%2C%202025&amp;text=NEW%20YORK%20%E2%80%94%20Igloo%20is%20recalling,fingertip%20injuries%2C%20including%20some%20amputations." target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} ^{<a href="https://cbs12.com/news/local/woman-claims-teens-middle-fingers-led-to-bb-gun-fire-in-vero-beach-florida-woman-crime-bb-gun-teenagers-dirt-bike-florida-indian-river-county-february-13-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fingerlakesdailynews.com/police-blotter/seneca-falls-man-arrested-after-he-strangled-hit-in-the-face-and-bit-womens-fingers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fingerlakes.com/towns/seneca-falls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} “I spent a second realizing I was inside the mouth of something, that maybe it had eaten me,” said a Venezuelan kayaker after being swallowed and regurgitated by a whale.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly50k8zypmo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} On a beach in Turks and Caicos, a woman attempted to take a selfie with a shark that proceeded to bite her hands off; a lawsuit was filed against Folly Beach, South Carolina, for using a third party to hand out parking tickets; and in Oxford, England, a United Nations judge was charged with “illegal folly” for effectively enslaving a young Ugandan woman.^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/shark-bites-off-tourist-hands-205333844.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.live5news.com/2025/02/11/lawsuit-company-issued-illegal-parking-tickets-isle-palms-folly-beach/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/17/un-judge-kept-slave-deal-ugandan-deputy-high-commissioner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>} The Buenos Aires government approved plans to sterilize male capybaras and inject female ones with contraceptives in a gated community where the large rodents are breeding rapidly, and a Peruvian police officer pinned down a suspect and helped seize 1,700 bags of cocaine while dressed in a capybara costume.^{<a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-02-14/too-many-capybaras-rodents-face-vasectomies-in-luxury-argentine-community.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14400849/moment-cop-capybara-Peruvian-drugs-bust.html#:~:text=Bizarre%20moment%20cop%20dressed%20as,packages%20of%20cocaine%20and%20marijuana" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40</a>} A man in Houston, Texas, was arrested after giving his nine-year-old daughter a chocolate bar laced with THC, and an opossum was hospitalized in Omaha, Nebraska, after eating a Costco tuxedo chocolate cake.^{<a href="https://abc13.com/post/anong-inthavong-accused-giving-9-year-old-daughter-thc-laced-chocolates-ordered-stay-away-court-appearance/15913340/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">41</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/15/us/opossum-costco-chocolate-cake-nebraska/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">42</a>} It was reported that a woman in Japan was arrested for “criminal damage” after squishing a pack of black sesame buns too hard.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5025n2g2o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">43 </a>}</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—Megan Evershed</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-eric-adams-merchant-of-death-rikers-island-munich-security-conference-pete-hegseth-neo-nazi-bombs-trigger-warnings-trigger-fingers-whale-shark-capybara-opossum/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-epa-toxic-pollution-venomous-snakes-cat-scan-american-bombs-artificial-intelligence-reddit-waffle-house-female-shark-kimchi-chicken-nuggets/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 16:40:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=292002</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Lithuania reported that it is maintaining a stable supply of power after disconnecting its energy grid from Russia and Belarus, and Sri Lanka said that its entire population of 22 million people was cut off from power by a monkey who broke into a power station.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-epa-toxic-pollution-venomous-snakes-cat-scan-american-bombs-artificial-intelligence-reddit-waffle-house-female-shark-kimchi-chicken-nuggets/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency put more than 160 staffers on administrative leave, warned some 1,000 more that they could be fired at any time, and shut down an online service that was designed, in part, to prevent construction projects from exposing communities to toxic waste and pollution; and a man in Sydney discovered more than one hundred venomous snakes in his garden.^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/epa-staff-let-go-tool-shut-tumultuous-week-rcna191218" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theenergylawblog.com/2024/07/articles/business/epa-releases-new-version-of-ejscreen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/feb/06/totally-amazing-102-red-bellied-black-snakes-found-in-sydney-garden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} The National Institute of Health announced that it would cut $4 billion in indirect medical funding intended for building and maintaining facilities and administrative staff, the U.S. president issued a stop order to USAID that initially left thousands of participants in clinical trials with unmonitored experimental medical devices inside their bodies, and a jury ruled that the state of New Jersey must pay almost $12 million in damages after a police officer arrested a woman while she was having a stroke.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/08/trump-administration-medical-research-funding-cuts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/health/usaid-clinical-trials-funding-trump.html?rsrc=ss&amp;unlocked_article_code=1.u04.cvMV.DyaYrzc5-8L3&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} ^{<a href="https://newjerseymonitor.com/2025/02/05/state-hit-with-12m-judgment-after-rookie-trooper-arrests-stroke-victim/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} A New Hampshire organ transplant recipient became the second known person living with a genetically modified pig kidney, and an Italian radiologist was placed under investigation for giving his cat a CAT scan.^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pig-kidney-transplant-organ-xenotransplant-mass-general-5c3c620f989092ba70720e54e2e4138f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/05/doctor-inquiry-injured-cat-scan-hospital" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} Lithuania reported that it is maintaining a stable supply of power after disconnecting its energy grid from Russia and Belarus, and Sri Lanka said that its entire population of 22 million people was cut off from power by a monkey who broke into a power station.^{<a href="https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/02/9/7497406/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/10/total-chaos-monkey-blamed-for-nationwide-power-cut-in-sri-lanka" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} A man in the South Korean city of Busan was arrested for attempting to rob a bank with a toy dinosaur, and the Czech government said that it saved $1 million when a dam project that it had spent 7 years developing was completed in two days by beavers.^{<a href="https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-society/2025/02/10/X2VLEZAZNBDS3BIBVOSV3CQ634/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.voxnews.al/english/kosovabota/qeveria-po-e-planifikonte-prej-7-vitesh-kastoret-ndertojne-brenda-dy--i84652" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The prime minister of Canada warned Canadian business and labor leaders that the president of the United States was serious about annexing their country, and the president of the United States said he was also serious about “buying” Gaza, where Israel in the past year and a half has killed at least 48,000 people and destroyed 66 percent of buildings using thousands of 2,000-plus pound American bombs.^{<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trudeau-says-trump-serious-about-canada-becoming-51st-state-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn57neepx4vo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/10/trump-says-no-right-of-return-for-palestinians-under-his-gaza-proposal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} ^{<a href="https://unitar.org/about/news-stories/press/66percent-total-structures-gaza-strip-have-sustained-damage-unosats-analysis-reveals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/destruction-homes-leaves-palestinians-unable-safely-return-rafah#:~:text=After%20more%20than%2015%20months,scale%2Dup%20of%20humanitarian%20aid." target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-has-sent-israel-thousands-2000-pound-bombs-since-oct-7-2024-06-28/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a>} Russian drone operators reported receiving a shipment of first-person-view goggles that were booby-trapped to explode when switched on, a large Ukrainian drone filmed a smaller Ukrainian drone attacking a Russian surveillance drone, and Google’s parent company dropped its promise not to use its artificial intelligence technology for military weapons.^{<a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/post/46836" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>} ^{<a href="https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/02/from-motherships-to-shotguns-drone-war-evolves-rapidly-in-ukraine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/05/google-owner-drops-promise-not-to-use-ai-for-weapons" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} France announced that it would invest more than $100 billion in artificial intelligence; more than 100 artificial intelligence experts signed an open letter warning that, if the technology is irresponsibly developed, it could lead to new forms of consciousness that experience suffering; a study found that arguments generated by artificial intelligence are more persuasive than those of 82 percent of users on Reddit; and a company that uses artificial intelligence to help its customers with their writing asked job applicants to promise not to use artificial intelligence to help them fill out their applications.^{<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/10/frances-answer-to-stargate-macron-announces-ai-investment.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/03/ai-systems-could-be-caused-to-suffer-if-consciousness-achieved-says-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} ^{<a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/02/are-ais-getting-dangerously-good-at-persuasion-openai-says-not-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.404media.co/anthropic-claude-job-application-ai-assistants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A study at the University of Reading found that the mean temperature of the ocean’s surface is increasing 400 percent faster than it had in the 1980s, and Russia held a demonstration in the Arctic Circle of two of its all-terrain rescue vehicles, which subsequently fell through the ice.^{<a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a63612575/warming-ocean-temperatures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wtaj.com/news/local-news/johnstown-flood-museum-rebuilds-after-leak-flooding-in-exhibit-area/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/russias-elite-arctic-rescue-trucks-160000812.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACzqWfu_eCcsYDmBEpWiNUAbaP8Tv4vHiIMVFYRyfixQbQYrecHzdbfTXNwUPrSin2wyLWVvxAzPDBd1AF0R3N0pr1YLH6Hto5dXwlobWTuwJca5KD0aiedDpBuYMH0XIBu7VQlX3UayoKnzS0f-vIJqcEjWn6g11AW9EqNXiMHm&amp;guccounter=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} A nurse’s aide in Iowa was fired for flossing her teeth while standing over a patient, and one Minnesota senator said beavers were “nature’s chicken nuggets” while another proposed overturning a recent state ban on eating them.^{<a href="https://www.live5news.com/2025/01/10/unacceptable-behavior-nurse-fired-flossing-her-teeth-over-patient/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fox9.com/news/mn-senator-wants-make-legal-eat-beavers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} Police in Pennsylvania valued 100,000 eggs stolen from a refrigerated truck at 40 cents each, and Waffle House announced that it would add a 50-cent-per-egg surcharge to compensate for rising egg prices amid a national shortage.^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/100000-eggs-worth-40000-stolen-trailer-police-crack/story?id=118474293" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eggs-prices-shortages-bird-flu-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/waffle-house-adds-50-cent-123944346.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} A female shark held in a Louisiana aquarium gave birth despite having not encountered a male in three years, the rate of marriages dropped 20 percent in China since 2023, and in South Korea, the city of Seoul began offering couples $930 to get married this year.^{<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/baby-shark-mystery-virgin-birth-parthenogenesis-delayed-fertilization-2025790" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/china/china-marriage-registrations-record-low-2024-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/seoul-to-offer-930-to-couples-who-register-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} South Korea’s Incheon International Airport confiscated 10.7 tons of kimchi being smuggled in bottles or plastic bags last year, and an airplane flying over Alaska vanished.^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/04/travel/south-korea-airport-kimchi-confiscation-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/07/alaska-missing-plane-mystery-explanation/78338411007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>} Iowa’s Supreme Court reduced the advance notice landlords must give when evicting tenants who fall behind on rent payments from 30 days to 3, the Central Intelligence Agency offered to pay all of its employees to quit their jobs, the Federal Communications Commission blocked robocallers who called FCC employees’s personal and work phone numbers pretending to be FCC agents, and Tennessee lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow parents without high school diplomas to homeschool high schoolers.^{<a href="https://dailyiowan.com/2025/02/05/iowa-eliminates-30-day-eviction-notice-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cia-offers-buyouts-entire-workforce-align-with-trump-priorities-wsj-reports-2025-02-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40</a>} ^{<a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/robocallers-posing-as-fcc-staff-blocked-after-robocalling-real-fcc-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">41</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/state/bill-to-create-new-category-of-home-schools-in-tennessee/51-2f500a59-afdc-4505-9f53-fa809c75fea4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">42 </a>}</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—Joe Kloc</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-epa-toxic-pollution-venomous-snakes-cat-scan-american-bombs-artificial-intelligence-reddit-waffle-house-female-shark-kimchi-chicken-nuggets/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-omb-snap-nlrb-eeoc-cdc-doge-usaid-fork-in-the-road-elon-musk-trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-mediterranean-port-canal-flood-leaks-zuckerberg-japan-elderly-criminals-punxsutawney-phil/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 04 Feb 2025 16:30:25 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=291990</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>A man at Quantico was photographed painting over a mural bearing the words <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Integrity</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Cooperativeness</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Stability</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Diversity</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Respect.</span></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-omb-snap-nlrb-eeoc-cdc-doge-usaid-fork-in-the-road-elon-musk-trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-mediterranean-port-canal-flood-leaks-zuckerberg-japan-elderly-criminals-punxsutawney-phil/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The U.S. Office of Management and Budget issued a two-page memo directing all federal agencies to pause the disbursement of federal financial assistance, sowing confusion across the country regarding what portion of the trillions in congressionally-appropriated funds, which encompass SNAP benefits, rental assistance, and Pell grants, would be obstructed.^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-federal-funding-freeze-widespread-confusion-rcna189581" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-leads-coalition-suing-stop-trump-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/politics/trump-funding-freeze-rollout.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-pause-federal-grants-aid-f9948b9996c0ca971f0065fac85737ce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.house.gov/the-house-explained/open-government/statement-of-disbursements/glossary-of-terms#:~:text=Appropriation%3A%20A%20law%20of%20Congress,as%20may%20be%20necessary%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} Medicaid portals in all 50 states went offline without warning, and the New York attorney general led a 22-state legal challenge to the edict, which was duly rescinded by the Trump Administration.^{<a href="https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/medicaid-payment-shutdown-trump-funding-freeze/738532/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/us/politics/medicaid-freeze.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-leads-coalition-suing-stop-trump-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-administration-rescinds-order-attempting-freeze-federal-aid-spen-rcna189852" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} “I cannot promise you that everything is going to be OK,” wrote the National Labor Relation Board’s acting general counsel in a note to staff four days after Trump brought the agency’s operations to an effective halt by illegally ousting one of its Democratic members and vaporizing its quorum.^{<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/nlrb-memo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.stinson.com/newsroom-publications-nlrb-lacks-quorum-to-exercise-its-authority-following-president-trumps-removal-of-member" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} ^{<a href="https://ogletree.com/insights-resources/blog-posts/nlrb-shake-up-president-trump-removes-board-member-discharges-general-counsel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.epi.org/perkins/firing-nlrb-board-member-gwynne-wilcox/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} Two commissioners were removed at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the body that protects American laborers from illegal discrimination in the workplace, which ordered its own employees, in what would represent a repudiation of their duty to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, to pause their adjudication of gender and sexuality-based complaints.^{<a href="https://www.hrdive.com/news/eeoc-tells-employees-halt-lgbtq-discrimination-cases/738853/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.hrdive.com/news/trump-shoves-eeoc-democrats-aside/738566/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.usa.gov/agencies/equal-employment-opportunity-commission#:~:text=The%20Equal%20Employment%20Opportunity%20Commission,training%2C%20wages%2C%20and%20benefits." target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-eeoc-commissioners-firings-crackdown-civil-rights-c48b973cb32bad97e9da9e354ba627db" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} Staffers at the Center for Disease Control and the Departments of Energy and Transportation were ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures, and the 60-year old Equal Employment Opportunity rule was overturned, once again allowing federal contractors to engage in acts of discrimination against their workers.^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-employees-told-remove-pronouns-email-signatures-end/story?id=118310483" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-equal-employment-opportunity-revoke-1965-dei-what-it-means/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>} In an Office of Personnel Management email bearing the same subject line, “Fork in the Road,” as the message sent to Twitter staff days after Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover of the social-media company, nearly all of the country’s 2.3 million federal workers were offered a buyout and encouraged to go on vacation or find “higher productivity” jobs in the private sector; shortly thereafter, OPM staffers found themselves locked out of internal databases containing sensitive information on all government personnel.^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/01/politics/federal-worker-buyout-reaction/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2025/02/01/trumps-bold-buyout-plan-to-shrink-the-federal-workforce–heres-everything-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://wtop.com/national/2025/02/qa-explaining-opms-deferred-resignation-for-federal-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/29/tech/elon-musk-government-cuts-twitter-takeover/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/tech/elon-musk-seizes-computer-system-171738117.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} Dozens of senior Department of Education employees were placed on administrative leave, dozens of Department of Justice prosecutors involved in criminal cases related to the January 6 insurrection were fired, and more than 1,000 people at the Environmental Protection Agency received notices that they were at risk of “immediate termination.”^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/union-official-education-department-employees-leave-dei-training-rcna190337" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/doj-purges-prosecutors-january-6-cases-00201904" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/31/politics/epa-workers-warning/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/more-than-1-100-epa-employees-warned-of-immediate-termination/ar-AA1yd8FZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-employees-warned-of-immediate-termination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} The Department of Agriculture ordered the removal of all mention of “climate change” from its websites, the Defense Department elected to no longer recognize Black History Month, and a man at Quantico was photographed painting over a mural bearing the words <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Integrity</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Cooperativeness</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Stability</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Diversity</span>, <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Respect.</span>^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/usda-orders-removal-climate-change-mentions-public-websites/story?id=118312216" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trump-white-house-marks-black-history-month-defense-118332579" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wsaz.com/2025/02/03/fbi-paints-over-core-values-wall-comply-with-trump-administration-dei-rollback/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} Envoys from the Department of Government Efficiency, which lacks a congressional mandate and is thus legally not a federal department, sought and secured access to classified data in a Bureau of Fiscal Service system that disburses trillions in social security and tax refunds to millions of Americans each year as well as classified U.S. Agency for International Development intelligence briefings for which they lacked the required security clearances.^{<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/384904/trumps-department-of-government-efficiency-sounds-like-a-joke-it-isnt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/musk-treasury-access" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/usaid-security-leaders-removed-refusing-elon-musks-doge-employees-acce-rcna190357" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} The Acting Secretary of the Treasury stepped down in defeat and two senior USAID security officers, who had tried to physically prevent DOGE personnel from accessing the restricted material, were escorted out of the Ronald Reagan Building and suspended.^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/usaid-security-leaders-removed-refusing-elon-musks-doge-employees-acce-rcna190357" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/us/politics/david-lebryk-treasury-resigns-musk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wqow.com/news/senior-usaid-security-officials-put-on-leave-after-attempting-to-refuse-musk-s-doge-access/article_0649034b-c9e5-509b-bce8-5917b0265b06.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40</a>} “Time for it to die,” Musk tweeted of USAID, whose communications department was largely gutted shortly before its website went black.^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/usaid-security-leaders-removed-refusing-elon-musks-doge-employees-acce-rcna190357" target="_blank" rel="noopener">41</a>} ^{<a href="https://amu.tv/154981/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">42</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-state-department-usaid-humanitarian-aid-freeze-ukraine-gaza-sudan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">43</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-usaid-staff-ousted-trump-182748021.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">44</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjdmx12j9no" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45</a>} Billions in U.S. foreign aid were frozen overnight, with an exemption made for military assistance to Israel.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/foreign-aid-israel-egypt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">46</a>} “These guys are terrible at everything,” tweeted a Senate Democrat regarding Trump’s failure to deport as many immigrants as Joe Biden had in his first week in office, and House Democrats held an emergency Zoom meeting.^{<a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.latintimes.com/dem-senator-points-out-that-trump-deporting-fewer-criminal-immigrants-biden-these-guys-are-574095&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1738554978073714&amp;usg=AOvVaw0hCTM_Y8S89jDuD7qleUWO" target="_blank" rel="noopener">47</a>} ^{<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5114602-democrats-emergency-meeting-trump-actions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">48</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, leading the premier of Nova Scotia to order the province’s liquor corporation to pull all 400 of its American alcohol products from its shelves, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to announce retaliatory tariffs on Floridian orange juice, the value of the Canadian dollar to tumble to levels not seen since 2003, and Canadian sports fans to readopt the Iraq War-era tradition of booing “The Star-Spangled Banner” when it was played at NBA and NHL games throughout the weekend.^{<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/tim-houston-responds-us-tariff-increase-1.7448333" target="_blank" rel="noopener">49</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/mexicos-president-says-tariffs-will-delayed-one-month-rcna190433" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/toppartners.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">51</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-trudeau-announces-counter-tariffs-2025-02-02/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.tipranks.com/news/canadian-dollar-falls-to-lowest-level-since-2003-as-currency-markets-gyrate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">53</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/02/list-of-products-from-the-united-states-subject-to-25-per-cent-tariffs-effective-february-4-2025.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">54</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nba/article-14352703/Angry-Canadian-NBA-fans-boo-national-anthem-Toronto-Raptors-game-Donald-Trump-imposes-tariffs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">55</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fans-boo-national-anthem-tariffs-canada-2c7210574c0373348870a94445814407" target="_blank" rel="noopener">56</a>} U.S. stock market futures plunged, Asian shares slumped, and wait times to take out gold bullion from the Bank of England octupled as a stockpile worth an estimated $82 billion was amassed in New York in anticipation of global trade war.^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/business/stock-futures-trum-tariffs/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">57</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70kn4676p4o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">58</a>} ^{<a href="https://fortune.com/europe/2025/01/31/waiting-time-get-gold-out-bank-england-reportedly-octupled-trump-tariff-threats-spark-exodus-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">59</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-wrapup-1pixtv-2025-02-03/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">60</a>} “We may have short term some little pain,” Trump acknowledged as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Vehicle Suppliers Association warned the White House of the supply chain upheaval threatened by the new duties, which stand to spike the price of cars, fuel, beer, and avocados.^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-imports-mexico-canada-china-3fd4cf45b2294c69a03391024dd8ca2e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">61</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-trade-surplus-3010e6368545e2976feb5ac6b41e528e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">62</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/your-money/tariffs-trump-economy/#:~:text=Nevertheless%2C%20Trump%20has%20acknowledged%20American,Trump%20told%20reporters%20on%20Sunday." target="_blank" rel="noopener">63</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/trade/article/55265104/condemnation-of-trumps-new-tariffs-from-auto-consumer-goods-groups" target="_blank" rel="noopener">64</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgpvq20qmdo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">65</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgpvq20qmdo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">66</a>} Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, who initially rejected the allegation that her government maintained an “intolerable alliance” with drug trafficking cartels, sent 10,000 troops to its northern border to intercept fentanyl trade, and Trudeau agreed to appoint a “fentanyl czar,” the two North American leaders later securing a one-month stay on the American tariff levy.^{<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">67</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-us-claim-cartel-alliance-slander-vows-tariff-retaliation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">68</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/world/canada/what-will-canadas-fentanyl-czar-do-justin-trudeaus-border-plan-to-stop-smuggling-explained-article-117896572" target="_blank" rel="noopener">69</a>} Goods from China were slapped with an additional 10 percent in import duties, prompting the country to announce that it would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, whose ability to mediate international trade disputes was kneecapped when the first Trump Administration blocked appointments to its main adjudication body, all seven seats of which remain vacant.^{<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/5121368-china-files-legal-case-us-wto-tariffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">70</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/08/lessons-trumps-assault-world-trade-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">71</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/appellate_body_e.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">72</a>} “These sabotage actions will not be tolerated,” the Latvian defense minister said after a fourth data cable running under the Baltic Sea was damaged in what are suspected to be covert attacks, leading Norway to seize a Russian-crewed cargo ship.^{<a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/nato-eu-on-high-alert-as-undersea-cable-attacks-escalate-in-baltic/7956600.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">73</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-authorities-board-ship-seized-over-baltic-sea-cable-breach-2025-01-27/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">74</a>} ^{<a href="https://gcaptain.com/norway-releases-ship-suspected-of-baltic-sea-cable-damage/#:~:text=Swedish%20police%20seized%20and%20boarded,but%20denied%20any%20malicious%20intent." target="_blank" rel="noopener">75</a>} On the Mediterranean Sea, the treaty granting the Russian Navy a military perch at the port of Tartus was terminated by the new Syrian government, which also demanded that the Kremlin, which is allegedly providing refuge to ousted leader Bashar Assad, pay the country reparations and “address past mistakes.”^{<a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/01/22/syria-terminates-russian-naval-base-deal-reports-a87690" target="_blank" rel="noopener">76</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/syria-demands-reparations-russia-2022813" target="_blank" rel="noopener">77</a>} The Panamanian president announced that his nation would step away from the Belt and Road Initiative as Trump renewed threats to reappropriate the country’s eponymous canal, through which $270 billion in cargo is ferried each year.^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marco-rubio-panama-canal-visit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">78</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.visualcapitalist.com/panama-canal-traffic-by-shipment-category-and-tonnage/%23:~:text%3DAbout%2520the%2520Panama%2520Canal%26text%3DThe%2520Panama%2520Canal%2520moves%2520roughly,of%2520all%2520global%2520maritime%2520trade&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1738553532192133&amp;usg=AOvVaw2KtueQouLOXsvb2zq5kIpE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">79</a>} ^{<a href="https://fortune.com/asia/2025/02/02/panama-leave-belt-and-road-canal-china-trump-rubio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">80</a>} The Suez Canal Authority announced that peace had been restored to the Red Sea while Israel continued its assault on the West Bank.^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/suez-canal-authority-says-stability-returning-red-sea-2025-01-31/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">81</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israeli-military-destroys-buildings-west-bank-rcna190328" target="_blank" rel="noopener">82</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Johnstown Flood Museum in Pennsylvania, which commemorates the victims of an 1889 deluge that killed 2,209 people, temporarily closed due to flooding instigated by a water leak on the building’s third floor.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/28/johnstown-flood-museum-closed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">83</a>} “Everything I say leaks,” complained Mark Zuckerberg during an all-hands meeting about firing leakers at Meta, according to audio that was leaked within the day.^{<a href="https://www.theverge.com/meta/603812/meta-warns-leakers-leaked-memo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">84</a>} After capitulating to Trump’s executive order “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness,” Google’s maps division reclassified the United States as a “sensitive country.”^{<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/google-reclassifies-us-as-sensitive-country-like-china-russia-.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">85</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">86</a>} “Perhaps this life is the most stable for me,” an 81-year-old Japanese woman said amid a rise in petty crime committed by the country’s growing population of single elderly women, some of whom are reportedly seeking imprisonment to gain better access to community and health care, and a 71-year-old Japanese man was found to be behind a string of local house robberies, which he said he committed in order to “look cool” and treat strangers to sushi.^{<a href="https://fortune.com/well/article/japan-prison-older-women-loneliness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">87</a>} ^{<a href="https://soranews24.com/2025/01/28/71-year-old-japanese-man-who-wanted-to-look-cool-robbed-63-houses-treated-strangers-to-sushi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">88</a>} “I wanted to build something creative for my community,” a Las Vegas ice cream truck driver said in response to social-media allegations that his vehicle was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement truck in disguise.^{<a href="https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/las-vegas-ice-cream-truck-mistaken-for-ice-vehicle-im-an-ice-cream-man-thats-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">89</a>} Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog ranked the 17th most accurate rodent weather forecaster in the country by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/01/scientists-cast-doubt-reliability-us-groundhog-weather-forecasts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">90</a>} ^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/punxsutawney-phil-predicts-6-more-weeks-winter-groundhog-day-2025/story?id=118357788" target="_blank" rel="noopener">91</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/staten-island/staten-island-chuck-most-accurate-groundhog-weather-predictions/6130801/#:~:text=Punxsutawney%20Phil%20came%20in%20at,just%2035%25%2C%20NOAA%20said." target="_blank" rel="noopener">92 </a>}</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—Maya Perry</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/02/weekly-review-omb-snap-nlrb-eeoc-cdc-doge-usaid-fork-in-the-road-elon-musk-trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-mediterranean-port-canal-flood-leaks-zuckerberg-japan-elderly-criminals-punxsutawney-phil/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-trump-ice-war-gustavo-petro-extreme-weather-events-freed-palestinian-prisoners-official-death-tolls-goma-yoon-suk-yeol-mario-kart-rabbit-island-definitely-not-a-bag-full-of-drugs/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper's Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jan 2025 16:30:30 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=291909</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Two Sumatran corpse flowers, Sydney’s Putricia and New York City’s Smelliot, bloomed on either side of the globe, luring in thousands of visitors as they released an odor variously described as redolent of “briny, dead fish,” “hot garbage,” and “poo.”</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-trump-ice-war-gustavo-petro-extreme-weather-events-freed-palestinian-prisoners-official-death-tolls-goma-yoon-suk-yeol-mario-kart-rabbit-island-definitely-not-a-bag-full-of-drugs/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the second full day of his second presidential term, Donald Trump ended a 2011 policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement from making arrests at schools, hospitals, and places of worship; “It’s kind of a war,” said a reverend in Chicago of ICE’s actions, while Colombian president Gustavo Petro turned away two military planes carrying deported migrants, posted on social media that “A migrant is not a criminal,” and pointed out that there are at least 15,666 Americans living in Colombia without legal immigration status.^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-authorizes-ice-target-schools-churches/story?id=117954409" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/faith-leaders-teachers-preparing-attack-trump-allows-immigration-arres-rcna188753" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://news.wttw.com/2025/01/13/wttw-news-explains-how-did-chicago-become-sanctuary-city" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/26/colombia-immigration-deportation-flights-petro-trump-us/5c32a41a-dc0d-11ef-8889-d5c3924edafd_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} ^{<a href="https://x.com/petrogustavo/status/1883558923573067937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombias-petro-will-not-allow-us-planes-return-migrants-2025-01-26/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} In response, Trump issued “emergency 25% tariffs” on Colombian goods, which he said he would double in a week; unfazed, Petro vowed to “do the same.”^{<a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/trump-says-colombia-will-face-25-tariffs-amid-fight-over-deportation-flights-e32dc497" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/01/26/trump-colombia-tariffs-coffee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} ^{<a href="https://x.com/petrogustavo/status/1883624818811236502" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} ^{<a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/01/26/gustavo-petro-responds-to-trump-overthrow-methe-americas-and-humanity-will-respond/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} “It’s just stupid,” a former biodefense official in the George W. Bush Administration said of Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, and air pollution in Bangkok exceeded by eight times the daily maximum average recommended by the WHO, prompting the Thai government to institute “desperate measures,” including scientifically unproven “cloud seeding” and closing 352 schools, all on the same day that UNICEF reported that 242 million children across 85 countries missed school last year as a consequence of extreme weather events.^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-withdraw-who-global-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} ^{<a href="https://en.vietnamplus.vn/thailand-uses-dry-ice-to-tackle-air-pollution-post308928.vnp#:~:text=soup%20smog%20below.-,Thailand's%20government%20on%20January%2024%20deployed%20small%20aircrafts%20to%20spray,Organisation's%20recommended%20daily%20maximum%20average" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-24/thailand-rainmaking-cloud-seeding-air-pollution/104856708" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bangkok-air-pollution-forces-352-schools-to-close/vi-AA1xNdaW" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/unicef-says-nearly-250-million-children-missed-school-last-year-because-of-extreme-weather" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} In Java, Indonesia, floods and landslides left at least 25 dead; New Orleans saw eight inches of snow, in the city’s greatest snowfall since 1895; a bomb cyclone in Ireland broke wind speed records dating to World War II; and rain fell in Los Angeles, providing some relief from ongoing wildfires but forcing officials to prepare for floods, toxic ash runoff, and mudslides through burn-scarred neighborhoods.^{<a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/indonesia-landslide-death-toll-rises-to-25-9d64ef2e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-pekalongan-flash-floods-landslide-e3e624c5fc3659b9f9152d47a408b9ad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} ^{<a href="https://abc7ny.com/post/least-10-dead-record-breaking-snowstorm-sweeps-south/15829040/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ireland-scotland-storm-eowyn-danger-wind-f0731238352bef6fe675e4cbf4d860a2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/01/25/g-s1-44748/storm-ireland-uk-record-winds#:~:text=In%20Ireland%2C%20wind%20snapped%20telephone,a%20record%20set%20in%201945." target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/much-of-us-south-coated-in-ice-after-historic-winter-storm/ar-AA1xJCZJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-wildfires/map-la-fires-containment-2/3614547/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/weather-news/la-rain-totals-storm/3616010/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} ^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/fire-alerts-flood-watches-rain-brings-relief-los-angeles-fire-zones-southern-california/story?id=118114741" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/fire-ravaged-los-angeles-braces-toxic-rain-runoff-2025-01-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-los-angeles-palisades-eaton-rain-93b6a9d46d021ba6200030a55ce1d6c8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-26/risk-of-debris-flows-in-burn-areas-as-rain-pounds-los-angeles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>}  </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Israel freed 200 Palestinian prisoners, ranging in age from 16 to 69, while Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers in the second exchange between the entities since they agreed to a ceasefire; according to Palestinian news agencies and the Ministry of Health, Israeli forces have killed at least sixteen Palestinians in Jenin since the agreement, including a two-year-old who was reportedly shot in the head by snipers, and Israeli forces killed 22 people and wounded 124 in southern Lebanon after failing to withdraw from the country by the deadline set in November through a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78wz6dy2y2o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1m5p9xv175o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-set-release-four-israeli-soldier-hostages-second-swap-2025-01-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-01-19-2025-437f7f1bf49c9d2936718cf78bdf272c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-air-strike-kills-two-militants-west-bank-hamas-says-2025-01-27/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/another-palestinian-killed-in-jenin-as-israeli-army-continues-assault-in-west-bank-city/3462791" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/27/israeli-air-strike-kills-two-hamas-fighters-in-the-occupied-west-bank#:~:text=Since%20the%20start%20of%20the%20operation%2C%20at%20least%2016%20Palestinians,camp%20due%20to%20Israeli%20attacks." target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/27/headlines/israeli_soldiers_shoot_and_kill_2_year_old_palestinian_laila_muhammad_ayman_al_khatib_in_west_bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/26/israeli-forces-kill-2-year-old-palestinian-girl-in-occupied-west-bank-raid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} ^{<a href="https://en.mehrnews.com/news/227458/2-year-old-Palestinian-girl-new-victim-of-Israel-in-West-Bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg750yzdr8o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/26/israel-war-gaza-ceasefire-hostages-news-hamas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/26/live-toddler-among-three-killed-by-israeli-fire-in-west-bank-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">41</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czeprnw4repo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">42</a>} A paper published in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lancet</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> found that official death tolls for the first nine months of the war in Gaza may have underreported the actual toll by more than 40%, and President Trump reversed a hold imposed by the Biden Administration on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.^{<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2824%2902678-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">43</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/health/gaza-death-toll.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">44</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/01/25/trump-israel-bomb-shipment-hold-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45</a>} In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rebels captured the city of Goma, forcing thousands of civilians to flee and sparking international concern over escalating war in the country’s mineral-rich eastern region, and in Sudan’s civil war, an airstrike on Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital, the last functioning hospital in the city of El Fasher, killed at least seventy people.^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/un-peacekeeper-death-toll-eastern-congo-rises-six-2025-01-26/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">46</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/26/africa/sudan-hospital-north-darfur-airstrike-70-killed-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">47</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/27/headlines/drone_strike_on_north_darfur_kills_70_patients_sudanese_army_blames_paramilitary_rsf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">48</a>} South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted for leading an insurrection after he declared martial law last month, and the Philippine government issued a comic book asserting its territorial claims, which China disputes, in the South China Sea; the next day, Filipino scientists collecting sand samples reported that the Chinese Coast Guard had harassed them out of the water by flying helicopters dangerously low over their heads.^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/26/asia/south-koreas-president-charged-insurrection-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">49</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr53r1d0jz4o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/01/25/2416782/philippines-turns-comic-book-assert-south-china-sea-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">51</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-china-sea-sandy-cay-philippines-606e460688e43f5fecc5264ab315feb9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52</a>} ^{<a href="https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2025/01/25/philippines-stops-research-survey-after-chinese-harassment-in-disputed-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">53</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In Osaka, Japan, a 47-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly causing 8 traffic accidents within 35 minutes; “That’s exactly how I play </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Mario Kart</em>,</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">” said one commentator.^{<a href="https://japantoday.com/category/national/osaka-woman-causes-8-separate-traffic-accidents-in-35-minutes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">54</a>} ^{<a href="https://soranews24.com/2025/01/23/osaka-woman-causes-8-separate-traffic-accidents-in-35-minutes/#:~:text=This%20woman%20managed%20to%20get,northern%20center%20of%20Osaka%20City." target="_blank" rel="noopener">55</a>} The woman denied not only that she had caused the accidents, but that she had even been driving a car at the time.^{<a href="https://mustsharenews.com/driver-8-accidents-35/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">56</a>} On nearby Okunoshima, Japan’s “Rabbit Island,” a man believed to have kicked 77 rabbits to death over the past two months explained that he’d wanted to know how they would respond to “bullying.”^{<a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3296129/what-killing-bunnies-japans-rabbit-island-arrested-man-suspected-77-deaths?module=perpetual_scroll_0&amp;pgtype=article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">57</a>} Florida police arrested a woman after finding methamphetamines in a bag labeled <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Definitely Not a bag Full of Drugs</span> fourteen weeks after Oregon police found fentanyl and meth in a bag marked with the same phrase,</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and French customs officials warned of the dangers of illegally imported “aphrodisiac honey” infused with Viagra.^{<a href="https://abc45.com/news/nation-world/bag-labeled-definitely-not-a-bag-full-of-drugs-found-full-of-drugs-in-central-florida-brevard-county-sheriffs-office-traffic-stop-k9-deputy-arrest-january-22-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">58</a>} ^{<a href="https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/oregon-police-seize-bag-full-of-drugs-labeled-definitely-not-a-bag-full-of-drugs-portland-police-bureau-east-precinct-fentanyl-pills-meth-oxycodone-drug-bust" target="_blank" rel="noopener">59</a>} ^{<a href="https://harpers.org/2024/10/weekly-review-hurricane-helene-milton-fema-desantis-meteorologist-thatcher-icon-corrupt-tunisia-cameroon-airplane-drugs-opera-multicolor-phallus-neapolitan-conker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">60</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/europe/aphrodisiac-honey-warning-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">61</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jan/21/love-honey-erectile-nectar-causing-a-storm-in-france" target="_blank" rel="noopener">62</a>} Two Sumatran corpse flowers, Sydney’s Putricia and New York City’s Smelliot, bloomed on either side of the globe, luring in thousands of visitors as they released an odor variously described as redolent of “briny, dead fish,” “hot garbage,” and “poo.”^{<a href="https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/stinky-rare-corpse-flower-blooms-brooklyn-botanic-garden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">63</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/two-corpse-flowers-just-bloomed-and-people-waited-hours-to-smell-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">64</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c07kdd1g0e7o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">65</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-24/putrid-putricia-corpse-flower-viral-internet-sensation/104854564" target="_blank" rel="noopener">66</a>} In Japan, aquarium staff nursed a lonely sunfish back to health by pasting pictures of human faces on the side of its tank.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjv4lz7g57o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">67</a>} In Alabama, a 53-year-old woman became the longest-living recipient of a pig organ transplant after sixty-one days.^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alabama-woman-pig-organ-transplant-towana-looney/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">68</a>} “I’m Superwoman,” she said, laughing.^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alabama-woman-pig-organ-transplant-towana-looney/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">69</a>} Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, putting into effect a bill that redefines marriage as occurring between a “person and a spouse,” rather than a “man and a woman.”^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailands-same-sex-marriage-law-2025-01-23/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">70</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-01-23/thailand-same-sex-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">71</a>} Almost 2,000 queer couples got married across the country that day, 654 of them in Bangkok, which set a new world record for the most same-sex marriages to occur in a single city in the span of a day.^{<a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-01-23/thailand-same-sex-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">72</a>} “I feel it has unlocked everything,” said one newlywed.^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/celebration-mass-wedding-thailand-same-sex-marriage-law-takes-effect-rcna188883" target="_blank" rel="noopener">73</a>} “We can now use the word ‘family.’”^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/celebration-mass-wedding-thailand-same-sex-marriage-law-takes-effect-rcna188883" target="_blank" rel="noopener">74</a>} —</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Izzy Ampil</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-trump-ice-war-gustavo-petro-extreme-weather-events-freed-palestinian-prisoners-official-death-tolls-goma-yoon-suk-yeol-mario-kart-rabbit-island-definitely-not-a-bag-full-of-drugs/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-inauguration-trump-musk-nazi-salute-doge-tough-cookie-ceasefire-fires-spicy-takis-brigitte-bardot-vasectomy-mussolini-failed-drunk-driving-test/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jan 2025 01:00:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=291795</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>On Inauguration Day, Joe Biden announced pardons for his family members in the final twenty minutes of his presidency, and Donald Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 people involved in the January 6 riot in the first hours of his.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-inauguration-trump-musk-nazi-salute-doge-tough-cookie-ceasefire-fires-spicy-takis-brigitte-bardot-vasectomy-mussolini-failed-drunk-driving-test/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the eve of his inauguration, Donald Trump held a “victory rally” during which the musician Kid Rock performed; “inflation’s up like the minimum wage,” Kid intoned, “but that BS is about to change!”^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cpdxzjw9p47o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/arts/music/trump-village-people-kid-rock.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ultramagacanuk5/video/7461743154715217158" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} On Inauguration Day, Joe Biden announced pardons for his family members in the final twenty minutes of his presidency, and Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 people involved in the January 6 riot in the first hours of his.^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/biden-pardons-family.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-set-pardon-defendants-stormed-capitol-jan-6-2021-rcna187735" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} Marjorie Taylor Greene cut the line of Congresspeople waiting to enter the ceremony, Elon Musk appeared to give two Nazi salutes while addressing the crowd, Carrie Underwood was forced to sing “America The Beautiful” a cappella due to a technical glitch, and Trump threw a collection of pens into the audience after signing a series of executive orders.^{<a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-trump-inauguration-line-b2683130.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/20/trump-elon-musk-salute" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy48v1x4dv4o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/stefanik-defends-musk-s-gestures-during-confirmation-hearing-229864005531" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/carrie-underwood-performs-america-the-great-acapella-technical-glitch-donald-trump-inauguration-b1205968.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/trump-flings-pens-into-crowd-after-signing-executive-orders-people-seen-clicking-selfies-with-pens-watch-2025-01-21-972287" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} “This is a hell of a day,” said the new president, who declared that the federal government would thenceforth recognize only two genders; officially announced the creation of his advisory group DOGE, which was immediately hit by three different lawsuits for violating federal transparency laws; attempted to end birthright citizenship, a constitutional provision he called “just ridiculous”; canceled the flights of nearly 1,600 Afghan refugees; unauthorized the app that migrants used to schedule appointments with border officials; suspended the ban on TikTok; attended three inaugural balls; wielded a long, gleaming sword; renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America; reinstated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism; described dictator Kim Jong-un as a “tough cookie” with “bad intentions”; misidentified Spain as a BRICS nation; and falsely claimed that Americans split the atom.^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-inauguration-01-2025?gsid=85d8d967-69a6-47c4-b78d-1bb2e2638708" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-inauguration-president-2025/card/trump-says-u-s-government-will-only-recognize-two-genders-AczgnDhivM4E7Pz6xClV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-use-one-his-first-executive-orders-create-doge-semafor-reports-2025-01-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-doge-lawsuits-faca-trump-inauguration-2025-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/01/20/trump-immigration-executive-orders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/live-updates-donald-trumps-2025-inauguration-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-canceling-flights-nearly-1660-afghan-refugees-say-us-2025-01-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-shuts-cbp-one-immigration-app-dashing-migrants-hopes-entering-us-rcna188448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-to-suspend-tiktok-ban-for-75-days-to-find-u-s-buyer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-inaugural-balls-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rename-gulf-of-mexico-denali/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/01/21/trump-renaming-gulf-of-mexico-to-gulf-of-america-heres-what-he-can-and-cant-do/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} ^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-rename-gulf-mexico-gulf-america-1st-executive/story?id=117886074" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/trump-reinstates-cuba-as-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-reversing-bidens-decision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} ^{<a href="https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/global-trends/hows-kim-jong-un-doing-trump-asks-first-question-to-us-troops-stationed-in-south-korea-netizens-cant-stop-laughing/amp_articleshow/117413603.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.ktsm.com/news/international/ap-trump-mistakes-spain-for-a-member-of-the-brics-bloc-and-repeats-the-threat-of-massive-tariffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-claims-us-split-atom-new-zealand-says-not-true/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} “That’s the one thing we did,” opined a commentator from New Zealand, the home country of Ernest Rutherford, who accomplished the feat in 1917 and serves as the namesake of the synthetic chemical element rutherfordium.^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-claims-us-split-atom-new-zealand-says-not-true/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} ^{<a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/ernest-rutherford-wins-nobel-prize-in-chemistry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/rutherfordium" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} Melania Trump launched a cryptocurrency, $MELANIA, which tanked the value of her husband’s own newly launched cryptocurrency, $TRUMP.^{<a href="https://thehill.com/business/5094657-melania-meme-coin-launches-following-trumps-new-cryptocurrency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/20/donald-trump-meme-coin-price-melania-token" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} ^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/donald-melania-trump-crypto-tokens-plummet/story?id=117933677" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} ^{<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/official-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first phase of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, with Hamas releasing three Israeli hostages and Israel releasing from detention 90 Palestinians, at least a third of whom had not been charged with a crime and 25 of whom were teenagers.^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-hamas-ceasefire-hostage-release-gaza-war-takes-effect/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/palestinian-prisoners-freed-gaza-ceasefire-120414686.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALgbAKfXFp93uurJV1XeH3y4D7TejmNqjh2dWzQYW1MOu_1VZalJwY6Ydn6ta8qnL4k9-9bqOl6QVqrU-nlucCB_zyNSD0YwQKeeBQu4I4JNYHIXKm4M5Y9Ec4yRnQWj9Zs7W_O6u5uoXi5XoZBrbzk8QOeKC96Cw8nIPZu8_FC1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/palestinian-prisoners-freed-gaza-ceasefire-120414686.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALgbAKfXFp93uurJV1XeH3y4D7TejmNqjh2dWzQYW1MOu_1VZalJwY6Ydn6ta8qnL4k9-9bqOl6QVqrU-nlucCB_zyNSD0YwQKeeBQu4I4JNYHIXKm4M5Y9Ec4yRnQWj9Zs7W_O6u5uoXi5XoZBrbzk8QOeKC96Cw8nIPZu8_FC1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-hamas-ceasefire-war-gaza-01-20-25-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-ceasefire-deal-palestinian-prisoners-freed-west-bank-rcna188359" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40</a>} After the ceasefire deal was struck, Israeli forces killed eight people in the West Bank, Israeli snipers shot and killed a child in Rafah, and Israel continued to bomb Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians, including 21 children.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crke088e27lo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">41</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4032622/biden-announces-ceasefire-deal-between-hamas-israel-in-farewell-address/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">42</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/19/israel-hamas-ceasefire-takes-effect-in-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">43</a>} In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, settlers set fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles, and, in his first full day back in the Oval Office, Trump revoked the Biden Administration’s sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of assaulting Palestinians.^{<a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-kills-eight-huge-bloody-assault-jenin-refugee-camp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">44</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-sniper-kills-palestinian-child-in-rafah-ceasefire-violations-ongoing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2025/1/20/palestinian-child-killed-by-israeli-sniper-despite-ceasefire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">46</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/16/live-celebrations-in-gaza-as-israel-hamas-reach-ceasefire-deal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">47</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/21/live-israeli-forces-raid-west-bank-as-ceasefire-sees-aid-trucks-reach-gaza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">48</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.dci-palestine.org/israeli_forces_shoot_kill_14_year_old_palestinian_boy_in_sebastia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">49</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/palestinian-child-killed-in-israeli-raid-soldiers-killed-and-wounded-in-west-bank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/two-settlers-detained-in-connection-with-overnight-attacks-on-palestinians-in-the-west-bank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">51</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/21/trump-lifts-us-sanctions-on-israeli-settlers-in-the-occupied-west-bank" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52</a>} It was reported that landlords in Los Angeles raised rents by up to 300% as fires continued to blaze through the county; three people were arrested for flying unauthorized drones in the city, including one that collided with a “Super Scooper” aircraft; and an Oregon man, previously incarcerated on charges of arson, was arrested in the Palisades for posing as a firefighter and driving a firetruck emblazoned with the words <span style="text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;">Roaring River Fire Department</span>, a department that does not exist.^{<a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/rent-gouging-what-is-it-is-it-legal-can-you-fight-back#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">53</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2025/jan/21/la-under-more-risk-as-2-wildfires-blaze/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">54</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fire.ca.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">55</a>} ^{<a href="https://petapixel.com/2025/01/15/three-drone-pilots-arrested-for-unauthorized-flights-over-la-wildfires/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">56</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/los-angeles-wildfires-rekindle-eco-130022738.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">57</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/two-oregon-residents-arrested-for-impersonating-firefighters-in-palisades-fire-evacuation-zone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">58</a>} It was reported that an Orange County fire chief saved two homes from burning by dousing a melting gas meter in beer and milk, and a woman was sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment for using a packet of spicy Takis to set a home alight in Springfield, Missouri.^{<a href="https://abc7.com/post/orange-county-fire-chief-brian-fennessy-saves-altadena-homes-eaton-milk-beer/15808099/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">59</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.live5news.com/2025/01/17/woman-set-home-fire-using-takis-chips/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">60</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A French judge ruled that Rillette, a wild boar domesticated by a horse breeder, would be allowed to stay with her owner after successful protests by animal-rights campaigners and the actress Brigitte Bardot, who declared in an open letter that France is “governed by assassins.”^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5yy68epmqo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">61</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/17/europe/boar-rillette-french-court-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">62</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/05/i-demand-she-is-spared-brigitte-bardot-joins-campaign-to-save-wild-boar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">63</a>}</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> In Afghanistan, the acting deputy foreign minister criticized his own government’s policy of banning girls from attending school, and in Sweden, a guard at the king’s palace slipped on ice and impaled himself with his own bayonet.^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-deputy-foreign-minister-calls-girls-high-schools-open-2025-01-20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">64</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/king-carl-gustaf-soldier-bayonet-injury" target="_blank" rel="noopener">65</a>} A Taiwanese plastic surgeon posted a video on Facebook in which he performs a vasectomy on himself, and an Italian soccer club’s falconer, who had previously been suspended from taking care of the team’s mascot, an eagle called Olympia, after praising Benito Mussolini and performing a fascist salute, was fired for sharing photos to social media of his new penile implant.^{<a href="https://www.news18.com/viral/plastic-surgeon-performs-his-own-vasectomy-uploads-video-online-ws-b-9194923.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">66</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jan/14/lazio-fire-far-right-eagle-mascot-handler-over-his-social-media-penis-posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">67</a>} In Greece, a man who failed a drunk-driving test was released by police and proceeded to crash into another car later that night, and in an English laundromat, an 84-year-old man fought off a mugger with a pair of jeans.^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/greece-drunk-driver-crash-death-b98f8e4a8f7896753e68920448f0b4ca#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">68</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/either-him-won-british-retiree-152508690.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">69</a>} “It was either me or him,” said the man, “and I won.”^{<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/either-him-won-british-retiree-152508690.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">70 </a>}</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—Megan Evershed</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-inauguration-trump-musk-nazi-salute-doge-tough-cookie-ceasefire-fires-spicy-takis-brigitte-bardot-vasectomy-mussolini-failed-drunk-driving-test/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-wildfires-los-angeles-palisades-inmates-brentwood-eat-christmas-trees-pizza-chef-tattoos-baby-crocodile-fentanyl-dealer-stare-at-your-wife-we-are-trying/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 14 Jan 2025 16:30:08 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=291776</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The Belgian government warned its citizens not to eat their discarded Christmas trees.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-wildfires-los-angeles-palisades-inmates-brentwood-eat-christmas-trees-pizza-chef-tattoos-baby-crocodile-fentanyl-dealer-stare-at-your-wife-we-are-trying/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The largest wildfires in Los Angeles history continued to burn, destroying more than 12,000 structures across 40,000 acres and killing at least 24 people.^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/09/us/la-wildfires-damage-photos-map.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/live-blog/california-wildfires-live-updates-santa-ana-winds-continue-rcna187351" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-wildfires-southern-california-c5826e0ab8db965cb2814132ff54ee6f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} Public fire hydrants ran dry; an insurance contractor dispatched private firefighters with their own dedicated water supply to extinguish the blazes at its customers’ homes; and the inferno in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood caused the Rams football team to relocate their home game to the Arizona Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium, named for the eponymous insurance company that months earlier canceled fire insurance policies for hundreds of Palisades homeowners.^{<a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-08/lack-of-water-from-hydrants-in-palisades-fire-is-hampering-firefighters-caruso-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-01-11/southern-california-wildfires-private-firefighters-jump-into-action" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/la-rams-game-moved-stadium-named-after-insurer-cut-policies-2012879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} Mexico and Canada sent dozens of firefighters, Iran offered to provide rescue equipment and fire specialists, Ukraine announced that it was prepared to contribute 150 firefighters, and around 800 incarcerated Californians were paid $1 an hour plus a base fee of up to $10.24 a day to fend off the blazes, a job that when done by inmates instead of professionals is four times more likely to result in broken bones and other injuries.^{<a href="https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexican-firefighters-head-to-los-angeles-to-assist-as-devastating-wildfires-threaten-the-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/firefighters-from-mexico-get-ready-to-battle-palisades-fire/3602905/#:~:text=NBC%20Universal%2C%20Inc.,on%20Jan.%2012%2C%202025." target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} ^{<a href="https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-sending-wildfire-fighting-resources-to-california-1.7169878" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} ^{<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/5081729-canada-deploying-60-firefighters-to-help-with-california-blazes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/508535/Iran-announces-readiness-to-help-victims-of-LA-wildfires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/13/zelenskyy-offers-ukraines-help-to-fight-california-wildfires-after-trump-jr-post" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/08/la-wildfires-incarcerated-firefighters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/01/10/nx-s1-5254122/inmate-firefighters-california-wildfires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://time.com/5457637/inmate-firefighters-injuries-death/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} A fire tornado broke out near the neighborhood of Brentwood, a water-dropping airplane collided with a private drone over the Palisades, and police officers arrested a man in the neighborhood of Woodland Hills who was riding around on his bicycle lighting discarded Christmas trees on fire with a blowtorch.^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/firenado-palisades-fire-los-angeles-brentwood-mandeville-canyon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>} ^{<a href="https://abc7.com/post/aircraft-fighting-palisades-fire-southern-california-hit-drone-faa-says/15784686/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} ^{<a href="https://abc7.com/post/california-wildfires-fbi-shares-photos-pieces-drone-damaged-super-scooper-aircraft-flying-palisades-fire/15792412/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a> <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/woodland-hills-residents-stop-man-blowtorch-who-may-be-connected-kenneth-fire-officials-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Belgian government warned its citizens not to eat their discarded Christmas trees, Poland’s agriculture ministry ordered 82,000 apples for handing out at meetings, the Ukrainian military apprehended a 51-year-old Italian pizza chef who was assisting the Russian army in invading the Donbas, and North Korea announced that cooking hot dogs will be considered an act of treason.^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/07/belgium-christmas-tree-food-advisory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://tvpworld.com/84416186/poland-celebrates-eu-presidency-with-massive-apple-order" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1hz8x7e/ukrainians_capture_italian_pizza_chef_recruited/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/crime/general/ukrainians-capture-italian-pizza-chef-recruited-by-moscow/ar-BB1reIqu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.latintimes.com/dictatorship-north-korea-571285" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/kim-jong-un-bans-hotdogs-for-north-koreans-cooking-them-an-act-of-treason/TKN3HJF3HRHZZHCCJ5L7EPF66Q/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} The mayor of an Italian town banned his own residents from getting sick, the European Union fined itself 400 euros for violating its own data privacy laws, and Washington, D.C., sued the U.S. government for dumping carcinogenic PCBs into the Anacostia River, which runs about two miles southwest of the Capitol.^{<a href="https://www.euronews.com/health/2025/01/08/small-italian-town-bans-residents-from-getting-sick-to-raise-attention-to-healthcare-short" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cyberdaily.au/government/11561-eu-fines-eu-for-breaching-eu-data-protection-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-dc-anacostia-pollution-environmental-cleanup-lawsuit-e00b90f883cfc83aeed341f43f69b7dc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/38.871771,-76.989431/United+States+Capitol,+Washington,+DC+20004/@38.8950957,-77.0270947,13z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7b82921a2cf17:0x482a3f7c10cf8c4!2m2!1d-77.0090505!2d38.8899389!3e0?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} A man in Arizona tattooed the American flag on the arm of a nine-year-old girl; a school in Rhode Island dropped off the same child at the wrong home twice in one afternoon; a principal in Indiana was charged with felony residential entry for breaking into a student’s apartment to recover items he believed the student had stolen from the school’s visitors’ locker room during a football game; and the parents of a student in Kentucky filed a lawsuit against their son’s former elementary school principal for calling the second-grade boy into his office, slamming a plastic gun on his desk, and threatening to kill him.^{<a href="https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/content/2025-01-08-tattoo-artist-criticized-for-giving-9-year-old-girl-an-american-flag-tattoo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/northwest/thats-not-my-child-mom-claims-school-bus-monitor-tried-to-drop-off-wrong-kid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} ^{<a href="https://abc7chicago.com/post/east-chicago-central-high-school-officials-charged-entering-students-apartment-retrieve-allegedly-stolen-property-police/15743295/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/3-east-chicago-school-employees-charged-for-entering-students-home-to-recover-stolen-items" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} ^{<a href="https://local12.com/news/nation-world/principal-sued-threaten-gun-students-second-grade-graders-student-school-teacher-administration-toy-weapon-plastic-firearm-scare-intimidate-lawsuit-sue-suing-shoot-feed-wolves-punishment-office-spank-spanked-abuse-assault-superintendent-district" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} “I’m going to feed you to the wolves,” the principal said.^{<a href="https://local12.com/news/nation-world/principal-sued-threaten-gun-students-second-grade-graders-student-school-teacher-administration-toy-weapon-plastic-firearm-scare-intimidate-lawsuit-sue-suing-shoot-feed-wolves-punishment-office-spank-spanked-abuse-assault-superintendent-district" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} A Canadian man was arrested for bringing the skull of a protected species of baby crocodile through an airport in India, a baby gorilla was discovered in a box at an airport in Turkey, a sheriff in Missouri captured a monkey in a tutu, and scientists in Florida warned residents that a sudden cold front could cause stunned iguanas to fall from the trees.^{<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/canadian-man-arrested-for-carrying-crocodile-skull-at-delhi-airport/article69080307.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} ^{<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/baby-gorilla-rescued-from-hold-of-turkish-airlines-plane-13288066" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spider-monkey-escaped-monkey-tutu-ac4d8d1271755d2f78a6ac64188c1d26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/florida-frozen-iguanas-falling-trees-2012632" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} A woman in Florida defecated on the floor of a Family Dollar store to distract employees while her partner stole $500 worth of cleaning products, another woman in Florida was arrested after she accidentally sent a text meant for her fentanyl dealer to a sheriff’s department narcotics investigator, and a Florida police officer admitted that he had crashed his cruiser into a stopped vehicle because he was looking at pornography while driving.^{<a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-woman-relieves-herself-family-dollar-store-floor-man-steals-500-cleaning-products-pcso" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wlox.com/2025/01/08/woman-arrested-after-accidentally-texting-sheriffs-department-instead-drug-dealer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">41</a>} ^{<a href="https://thesmokinggun.com/documents/florida/porn-cop-287569" target="_blank" rel="noopener">42</a>} “Boobs,” he told internal affairs, “or whatnot.”^{<a href="https://thesmokinggun.com/documents/florida/porn-cop-287569" target="_blank" rel="noopener">43</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The CEO of a health care company was accused of using $5 million accidentally transferred to her company by the state to win a seat in Congress, the chairman of an Indian manufacturing conglomerate said each employee should be working 90 hours a week instead of staying home to “stare at your wife,” and the families of workers who died during a flood at an eastern Tennessee plastics factory reported that the company sent them fast food gift cards as condolences.^{<a href="https://www.latintimes.com/florida-accidentally-paid-healthcare-company-5-million-instead-50k-ceo-used-extra-funds-run-571623" target="_blank" rel="noopener">44</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/how-long-can-you-stare-at-your-wife-larsen-toubro-chairman-says-he-wants-employees-to-work-on-sunday-too-101736400962928.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wcax.com/2025/01/10/your-mom-died-go-get-burger-factory-where-workers-died-flood-sent-gift-cards-victims-families/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">46</a>} A man in St. Louis, Missouri, helped another man dig his car out of the snow and then brandished a gun and stole his keys; a Polish general was fired after anti-tank mines that went missing on his watch were found in an IKEA warehouse; the mayor of Bogalusa, Louisiana, was arrested in connection with an opioid-, MDMA-, and marijuana-trafficking ring; and a viral salad recipe caused a cucumber shortage in Iceland.^{<a href="https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/st-louis-central-west-end-armed-robbery-car-stuck-in-snow/63-c35b81ce-3bb5-46ed-9331-9fe12421a0ad?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR14hCWrlFEwqDfbrFmAAwTtAb7EYsVznmshAg5v9r1Gvy6hz4fKtCPYAIo_aem_j7yom-httTO_LIYmCHOA2A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">47</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-general-fired-after-missing-anti-tank-mines-were-found-in-ikea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">48</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bogalusa-louisiana-mayor-tyrin-truong-arrested-drug-trafficking-investigation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">49</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/cucumber-shortages-iceland-blamed-tiktok-craze-first-time-experienced-this" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50</a>} The pope appointed the first woman to head a Vatican department and then told nuns to stop putting on “vinegar faces,” stop “dialogue with the devil,” and stop gossiping; and in Australia, scientists genetically modified male fruit flies to poison their female partners during sex.^{<a href="https://www.verity.news/story/2025/pope-names-first-woman-to-lead-major-vatican-department?p=re3424" target="_blank" rel="noopener">51</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.latintimes.com/pope-francis-criticizes-unfriendly-nuns-nasty-vinegar-faces-tells-them-stop-speaking-devil-571240" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-08/toxic-male-technique-female-mosquito-population/104796808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">53</a>} “We are,” said a researcher, “trying.”^{<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-08/toxic-male-technique-female-mosquito-population/104796808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">54 </a>}</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—Joe Kloc</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-wildfires-los-angeles-palisades-inmates-brentwood-eat-christmas-trees-pizza-chef-tattoos-baby-crocodile-fentanyl-dealer-stare-at-your-wife-we-are-trying/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>The Canary Dies</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/01/the-canary-dies/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[John R. MacArthur]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jan 2025 22:35:21 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Publisher’s Note]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=291729</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>What happened to the more than seven million voters who supported Biden in 2020, who apparently didn’t vote for Harris? Canaries suffocated by the toxic gases of neoliberal lies.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/the-canary-dies/">The Canary Dies</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="width: 250px; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; margin-left: 30px; padding: 30px; padding-bottom: 30px; float: right; font-size: 90%;">A <a href="https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/chroniques/824818/chronique-mort-canaris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">version</a> of this column originally ran in <em>Le Devoir</em> on December 2, 2024. Translated from the French by Elettra Pauletto.</div> <p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The darkest moment of the Democratic defeat on November 5</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">must have been the concession speech of outgoing Ohio senator Sherrod Brown. A loyal union supporter, he was one of the few members of his party to have resisted Bill Clinton’s neoliberal onslaught, the one that eventually caused all of us to be swallowed up by a popular victory for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Brown’s speech borrowed the language of his political ancestors: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson. On the evening of Kamala Harris’s defeat, his rhetoric echoed</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">the legacy of FDR’s New Deal: “We believe that all work has dignity…we believe in the power of people over corporate special interests…we believe that if you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work.” Instead of wearing an American-flag lapel pin, favored by more conformist politicians, Brown’s lapel pin</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">depicted a canary in a cage, reminiscent of the miners who used to</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">bring real canaries into coal mines to detect toxic gases.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But Brown did not detect the toxins in the political air early enough to save his seat—he was ousted by Bernie Moreno, a former Mercedes-Benz car salesman. Like Trump, Moreno sometimes neglected to pay his employees their full salaries, and, like Trump</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and his penchant for exaggeration, Moreno claimed to have earned a master’s degree in business, despite having only a bachelor’s degree.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sherrod Brown was strangely circumspect</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">in his fight to amplify the voices of ordinary people. His tactical course since 2021 reflects how far the Democratic Party has distanced itself from the American</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">working class (Brown didn’t attend the Chicago convention or appear with Kamala Harris during her campaign.) The Rust Belt, which was devastated by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), is lined with former union factory workers who have vowed to never vote for a Democrat again.  So</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Robert Teeple, who worked for a spark plug factory in Fostoria, Ohio, before it relocated to Mexico;</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">he told me this a year ago during the national strike of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. Although Teeple</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">was able to find a comparable job at a Jeep plant, he</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">said that Trump was their only hope.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kamala Harris’s rushed campaign did not allow her to win over Teeple and his peers, all victims of policies normally associated with the Republican Party. Given her association with the Biden Administration’s programs, the vice president did not contradict or challenge her boss. When asked what she would have done differently over the past four years, she replied, “Not a thing comes to mind.” Later, wanting to distinguish herself from Biden, she added, “You asked me what’s the difference between Joe Biden and me…I’m gonna have a Republican in my cabinet.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During her doomed campaign, Harris made at least three appearances with anti-Trump republican Liz Cheney, but none with Bernie Sanders, the darling of the left. This is not surprising given that Harris was bound hand and foot by liberal politics. According to the </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">New York Times</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, before reviewing drafts of her speeches or talking points, she would often ask, “Has Tony seen this?” Tony West, her brother-in-law, is chief legal officer for Uber, a company that is emblematic of the new deregulated economy popular among Democrats devoted to the policies of</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Clinton and Obama. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Add to this Harris’s relative silence over the violence in Gaza and the senseless war between Russia and Ukraine, her solicitude toward</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Big Tech,</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and her muted response to reducing the growing wealth gap, and it becomes clear why her words were seen as weak in the face of Trump’s incoherent but grandiose statements.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some commentators blamed Trump’s win on sexism, including that of Latino voters, accusing it of sinking the Democrats. Really? Let us look at Mexico, the cradle of machismo. Supported by the social policies of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (who doubled the minimum wage</span><b>, </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">thus lifting millions of citizens out of poverty), Claudia Sheinbaum, a Jewish woman, won the presidency in a Catholic country with nearly 60</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">%</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> percent</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">of the vote.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the summer of 2022, the Democratic Party defied Bernie Sanders and refused to renew the child tax credit, which had made it possible to halve the child poverty rate at the start of the Biden Administration. Following Sanders’s raucous Senate speech, working-class champion Sherrod Brown expressed frustration with his presumed ally: “Come on, Bernie!” Not a single Democratic senator voted for Sanders’s child-tax-credit</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">amendment to the Inflation Reduction Act.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What happened to the more than seven million voters who supported Biden in 2020, who apparently didn’t vote for Harris? Canaries suffocated by the toxic gases of neoliberal lies.</span></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/the-canary-dies/">The Canary Dies</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-crossbow-spider-monkey-breathalyzer-capitol-one-guns-french-quarter-cetinje-orca-onion-dildo-german-helmet-holocaust-survivor-budapest-nazis-eagle-wheelies-donkey-named-perry/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 07 Jan 2025 16:30:40 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=291718</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>A man in Maryland was arrested outside a Catholic church after dropping an onion in the aisle on his way to the altar, pouring whisky in the holy water, and throwing tangerines at the congregant who escorted him out of the mass.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-crossbow-spider-monkey-breathalyzer-capitol-one-guns-french-quarter-cetinje-orca-onion-dildo-german-helmet-holocaust-survivor-budapest-nazis-eagle-wheelies-donkey-named-perry/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the last days of 2024, police officers in Iowa arrested an intoxicated man for walking down the middle of the street with a sword and crossbow, police officers in California pulled over an allegedly intoxicated driver and discovered his passenger was a spider monkey dressed in a baby’s onesie, and police officers in Wales pulled over a scientist who co-designed the Breathalyzer and arrested him for drunk driving; on New Year’s Eve, a drunk driver in Canada was arrested after attempting to apprehend a sober driver he erroneously believed was intoxicated, a man in Texas was arrested for threatening to “show up” at a Capital One location “with a machete and gasoline” after a collection agency contacted him in pursuit of a $543 debt, it was reported that the police in New Orleans collected 94 guns from residents by exchanging them for video game consoles, six children and four adults were injured when a toy display collapsed inside a Massachussetts arcade and fell onto a crowd gathered beneath it, nearly 90 percent of people in Puerto Rico lost power, and a police officer in Zambia was arrested after allegedly getting drunk and releasing 13 suspects from jail, informing them that they were “free to cross over into the New Year”; and on New Year’s Day, a U.S. Army veteran in New Orleans killed 14 people when he drove his car into a crowd of revelers in the French Quarter, a U.S. Army veteran in Las Vegas killed himself before exploding his Tesla Cybertruck filled with fireworks outside a Trump International Hotel, a man in the Montenegrin town of Cetinje killed 12 people when he shot into a crowd after a bar fight, four shooters in Queens, New York, injured 10 teenagers when they opened fire at a vigil for a 16-year-old who was shot and killed in October, and researchers observed an orca carrying the body of her dead newborn calf across the ocean for the second time in seven years.^{<a href="https://kwayradio.com/man-drunk-with-crossbow-sword-and-knives-in-middle-of-a-street-again/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.newspressnow.com/news/regional_news/iowa/man-with-sword-crossbow-knives-arrested-in-waterloo-early-sunday/article_b1718d8b-0ef6-56a3-ba45-eb5aa26c877c.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.ksbw.com/article/rolls-royce-driver-dui-california-monkey-chp/63313206" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd607v0v2yvo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} ^{<a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-driver-who-tried-to-apprehend-suspected-impaired-driver-was-impaired-rcmp-1.7164385" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/26/us/texas-man-arrested-capital-one/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-orleans-gun-playstation-eca1d2b4f7522053e639fc529203def3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/toy-display-falls-injures-10-people-new-years-eve-event-massachusetts-rcna185878" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-power-outage-b594dc464d469b812dc9b65c76cc16e9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-03/intoxicated-police-officer-allegedly-released-prisoners/104781058" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/southeast/new-orleans-attack-victim-amazon-time-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/law-enforcement-officials-identify-suspect-new-orleans-attack-rcna185929" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/02/us/tesla-cybertruck-trump-hotel-wwk-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} ^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/montenegro-shooting-gunman-suicide-cetinje-7ab4ac905c4d08bca357251823dd4ee6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/queens-mass-shooting-outside-nightclub/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/j35-carrying-second-dead-calf-1.7422266" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A man in Maryland was arrested outside a Catholic church after dropping an onion in the aisle on his way to the altar, pouring whisky in the holy water, and throwing tangerines at the congregant who escorted him out of the mass; and a man in Connecticut was arrested for riding his bicycle past an Evangelical church while yelling and wearing a helmet with a dildo that he’d attached to it in an attempt to evoke a World War II–era German helmet, his second such offense in two weeks.^{<a href="https://www.wvlt.tv/2024/12/27/man-arrested-disrupting-christmas-church-services-pouring-whiskey-into-holy-water-deputies-say/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wfsb.com/2025/01/04/man-arrested-yelling-profanities-near-church-north-stonington-while-wearing-bike-helmet-with-sex-toy-attached/?utm_source=fark&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_content=link&amp;ICID=ref_fark" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a>} The oldest living Olympic medal winner, who was also a Holocaust survivor, died at 103 in Budapest; the Dutch government released the names of almost 500,000 people suspected of having collaborated with Nazis.^{<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/agnes-keleti-holocaust-survivor-and-oldest-living-olympic-medallist-dies-at-the-age-of-103-13282719" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/suspected-nazi-collaborators-named-netherlands-world-war-two-archives-rcna186096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} A man was arrested after he allegedly called 9-1-1 17 times to ask for a ride to a Wawa location, a woman in North Carolina went to the hospital after she mistook her nail glue for contact solution and glued her eye shut, and a man pronounced dead at a hospital in the Indian state of Maharashtra woke up when the ambulance returning his body to his family hit a speed bump.^{<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/28/us-news/man-allegedly-called-911-17-times-for-a-ride-to-nj-wawa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.wccbcharlotte.com/2025/01/03/concord-mom-seeking-help-after-accidentally-gluing-her-eye-shut/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.news18.com/india/maharashtra-man-declared-dead-speed-breaker-shakes-him-back-to-life-9175654.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} The governor of Texas responded to the death of the 39th U.S. president by sending condolences to the former leader’s wife, who has been dead for more than a year; the current U.S. president declared the bald eagle to be the country’s official national bird; and an eagle flew into an Alaska Airlines jet plane.^{<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/greg-abbott-mistake-jimmy-carter-condolences-rosalynn-wife-already-dead-2007310" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bald-eagle-biden-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2024/12/31/eagle-strike-forces-alaska-airlines-flight-turn-back-anchorage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Four hours into a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Manila, one passenger urinated on another sleeping passenger and then begged him not to press charges; a city council member in Brazil who lost her bid for reelection returned a toilet she had removed from her office.^{<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/united-airlines-business-class-passenger-urinates-on-stranger-midway-through-long-haul-flight-before-begging-him-not-to-press-charges/ar-AA1wZCA9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0rne2d540lo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} A judge in Arkansas struck down a law allowing librarians to be jailed for shelving controversial books; the city council of Kansas City, Missouri, considered an ordinance to jail motorcyclists who pop wheelies; the governor of Ohio signed into law a bill requiring residents to pay $75 an hour to obtain police body and dash camera footage; police in Tempe, Arizona, released body camera footage showing that officers shot the wrong car with a grappling hook and punctured its gas tank while a child was inside; and a sailor off the coast of Brazil came across an eight-year-old boy adrift inside a plastic bubble.^{<a href="https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/Judge-rules-Arkansas-Law-Criminalizing-Librarians-Unconstitutional-Censorship-News" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kansas-city-to-consider-ordinance-requiring-all-wheels-of-vehicle-be-on-the-ground" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.statenews.org/government-politics/2025-01-03/media-and-the-public-will-have-to-pay-up-to-get-video-of-police-bodycams-under-new-ohio-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/tempe-police-mistakenly-grappled-wrong-car-during-pursuit-records-show#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/moment-boy-floating-middle-sea-174048583.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACmrJLdZW_qXglKReKKMlgGQkm0D-QYzzYrLyatR1myfMClT_7iyu1nOkRMJMdYpcpONWUndS2I_S0J6lXmIGBk-O_laINwhYw6uGBhOiF8lVqZJz2ncxfzenlREfLnne5x07w2bNrb04TAcZMG2s52YQDIlAS0JfOSSa5NuJ6zj&amp;guccounter=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} A new law in California will require manufacturers to specify the amount of lead contained in baby food; the EPA permitted a company to use radioactive material shown to cause lung cancer to pave roads in Florida; about 200 dinosaur footprints made 166 million years ago were found in a limestone quarry in England; and game park rangers in Zimbabwe followed “fresh little human footprints” and discovered a lost seven-year-old boy who had spent five days living among 40 lions.^{<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/04/health/baby-food-qr-codes-wellness/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.xatakaon.com/health/florida-is-debuting-a-new-material-for-building-roads-theres-just-one-problem-its-radioactive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c24nzeqq1l2o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmnrly0zjeo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">37</a>} A donkey named Perry who worked as an emotional support animal for polo ponies before modeling a character in the animated film franchise </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shrek</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> died peacefully at his home in California, and a goat named Willie competing at a fair in Texas was poisoned to death by the 17-year-old owner of his rival.^{<a href="https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/bay-area-shrek-donkey-died-20014249.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">38</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/30/texas-teenager-poisons-goat-pesticide-competition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">39</a>} In the Mexican town of Coalcomán, residents thanked a drug lord for giving holiday gifts to children.^{<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-drug-cartels-holiday-gifts-c7ce2859fbc824bc937ffa061262b17e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40 </a>}</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—Joe Kloc</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2025/01/weekly-review-crossbow-spider-monkey-breathalyzer-capitol-one-guns-french-quarter-cetinje-orca-onion-dildo-german-helmet-holocaust-survivor-budapest-nazis-eagle-wheelies-donkey-named-perry/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Weekly Review</title> <link>https://harpers.org/2024/12/weekly-review-russia-ukraine-journalists-ceos-chameleon-doppelganger-grinch-squirrel-cyclone-shit-marijuana-bear-hunter-camel-fisherman-poisoning-chicken-cockroach-republicans/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Harper’s Magazine]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:22 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Weekly Review]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://harpers.org/?p=291612</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>In Texas, a school district removed the Bible from classrooms under a new law banning sexually explicit or vulgar books.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2024/12/weekly-review-russia-ukraine-journalists-ceos-chameleon-doppelganger-grinch-squirrel-cyclone-shit-marijuana-bear-hunter-camel-fisherman-poisoning-chicken-cockroach-republicans/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="drop-cap"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Security Service of Ukraine accused a Russian general of targeting Reuters journalists, the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council said that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Times of London</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> editors were legitimate military targets, and the U.S. military mistakenly shot down two of its own jets over the Red Sea.^{<a href="https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1340216/Ukraine-says-Russian-general-deliberately-targeted-Reuters-staff-in-August-missile-strike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1</a>} ^{<a href="https://theconversation.com/times-journalists-deemed-legitimate-military-targets-how-russia-muzzles-criticism-at-home-and-abroad-246361" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/22/us-shoots-down-two-of-its-own-navy-pilots-over-red-sea-in-apparent-friendly-fire-incident" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3</a>} Following the shooting of a health insurance executive in Manhattan, officials in New York considered creating a dedicated hotline for CEOs to report threats against them; and two men in Zambia were arrested for possession of a chameleon and charms with intent to bewitch the country’s president.^{<a href="https://www.latintimes.com/new-york-considering-special-hotline-just-ceos-report-alleged-threats-their-safety-after-brian-569424" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/16/us/luigi-mangione-unitedhealthcare-ceo/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyx9x98v4zo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6</a>} A woman in Germany was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to fake her own death by killing her doppelgänger, and two people in Spain were arrested for murder after police found an image on Google Street View of one of them loading the victim’s body into the trunk of his car.^{<a href="https://www.euronews.com/2024/12/20/german-woman-convicted-of-murdering-her-doppelganger-in-attempt-to-fake-her-own-death" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.surinenglish.com/spain/google-street-view-captures-man-moving-dismembered-body-20241218124033-nt.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/world/europe/google-maps-spain-arrests.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9</a>} A man in New York pleaded guilty to running a secret Chinese police station in Manhattan’s Chinatown; a police officer in Peru dressed as the Grinch to carry out a drug raid, seizing bags of cocaine; a disciplinary panel in England banned a police officer from the profession for life for filming himself masturbating while in uniform and sharing the video on WhatsApp; and squirrels in California developed a taste for flesh.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c785n9pexjpo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c1wq9g3v80ro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11</a>} ^{<a href="https://showbizzed.com/index.php?m=entertainment&amp;d=view&amp;id=904&amp;s=red" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/18/science/california-squirrels-carnivorous-eating-voles/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">13</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/carnivorous-squirrels-shocking-new-footage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">14</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">France added a nuclear reactor to its power grid for the first time in 25 years, a power company in Spain was fined for selling solar energy at night, and the Pope unveiled a photovoltaic roof as part of his “Brother Sun” plan for Vatican City.^{<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/france-adds-first-nuclear-reactor-25-years-grid-2024-12-21/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/12/17/spanish-company-fined-for-selling-solar-power-at-night/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">16</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/12/21/vatican-unveils-photovoltaic-roof-as-part-of-popes-pledge-to-move-to-green-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17</a>} In Texas, a school district removed the Bible from classrooms under a new law banning sexually explicit or vulgar books; and Texas Governor Greg Abbott spent $100,000 on a billboard ad campaign written in Spanish that warned migrants that their daughters would be raped en route to the United States.^{<a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/bible-removed-from-texas-school-district-due-to-state-law-banning.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-governor-buys-billboards-warning-migrants-theyll-be-raped-if-they-illegally-cross-border-36334902" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19</a>} The president of France, who visited the country’s overseas territory of Mayotte after it was hit by a cyclone that killed at least 35 people and injured around 2,500, told survivors that without the French government they would be “10,000 times more in the shit,” and two men in New York died of lung infections after using bat poop to grow marijuana.^{<a href="https://www.euronews.com/2024/12/20/if-this-wasnt-france-youd-be-10000-times-more-in-the-sht-macron-hits-out-at-mayotte-reside" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20</a>} ^{<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/france-observes-national-day-mourning-victims-cyclone-chido-117045185" target="_blank" rel="noopener">21</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/new-york-men-dead-bat-poop-fertilizer-cannabis-pneumonia-b2666240.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">22</a>} A woman in Australia was run over by her own car after failing to properly engage its brake as she helped a passenger unload a stroller from a taxi that she had just struck, and a man in Virginia was killed when a bear shot by a member of his hunting party fell out of a tree and landed on top of him.^{<a href="https://7news.com.au/news/woman-hit-by-her-own-car-while-assisting-passenger-with-pram-after-taxi-collision-in-canberra--c-17174924" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/bear-falls-on-hunter-dies-virginia/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24</a>}</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A man in Rhode Island called the fire department to help his 2,000-pound camel stand up after it fell over, and a fisherman in South Africa reeled in a drowning woman.^{<a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/12/17/rhode-island-firefighters-rescue-camel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.latintimes.com/fisherman-casts-line-ocean-hooks-drowning-woman-south-africa-569947" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26</a>} In Los Angeles, at least 80 diners at the </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">L.A. Times</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 101 Best Restaurants event contracted food poisoning; and a funeral home in Columbus became the first in Ohio to obtain a liquor license.^{<a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/la-norovirus-outbreak-raw-oysters-best-restaurants-event?link_source=ta_first_comment&amp;taid=6765ff24ba83590001f0495f&amp;fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0_47jiY4buN0vzAd3iK0uc6wyeZjNVyhORlDM4lR91T39mIi8IspwszHU_aem_RxQapDWlFK0Ik1u8EvTFPA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27</a>} ^{<a href="https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/columbus-funeral-home-first-ohio-operate-liquor-license-evergreen-funeral-cremation-and-reception" target="_blank" rel="noopener">28</a>} The Ohio Supreme Court ruled for the second time in six months that chicken wings labeled “boneless” can contain bones, and a man in India died after swallowing a live chick.^{<a href="https://www.wdtn.com/news/restaurants-bars/ohio-ruling-stands-that-boneless-chicken-wings-can-have-bones/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29</a>} ^{<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/raipur/tantric-ritual-man-swallows-live-chick-in-want-of-kid-dies/articleshow/116379394.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30</a>} Doctors in India found a live cockroach in the intestine of a man complaining of abdominal pain, researchers in Singapore announced that every 68 seconds they can install an implant in a cockroach that allows them to control its movements, and a charter school in Arizona announced that it would replace all fourth- through eighth-grade teachers with artificial intelligence.^{<a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/world/live-cockroach-intestine-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">31</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.techspot.com/news/105987-cyborg-cockroach-armies-can-now-mass-produced-rate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.kjzz.org/education/2024-12-18/new-arizona-charter-school-will-use-ai-in-place-of-human-teachers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">33</a>} Months after the longest serving Republican congresswoman was last seen on the House floor, she was found in an assisted-living home for patients who had lost their memory; and, in England, a woman started speaking in an Italian accent after recovering from a stroke.^{<a href="https://www.soapcentral.com/human-interest/news-who-kay-granger-congresswoman-missing-six-months-found-living-dementia-care-home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34</a>} ^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd6r7y33n4o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35</a>} “Mamma mia,” she said.^{<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd6r7y33n4o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">36</a>} —</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Joe Kloc</span></i></p> <p>The post <a href="https://harpers.org/2024/12/weekly-review-russia-ukraine-journalists-ceos-chameleon-doppelganger-grinch-squirrel-cyclone-shit-marijuana-bear-hunter-camel-fisherman-poisoning-chicken-cockroach-republicans/">Weekly Review</a> appeared first on <a href="https://harpers.org">Harper&#039;s Magazine</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>