Issue June 1, 2018 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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Main storiesEditor’s letterI am a disloyal British subject. Some 29 million people on this side of the Atlantic woke up early last Saturday to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get hitched (See Best U.S. Columns and Best European Columns), but this expat Brit was not among them. I didn’t abstain from the festivities out of anti-royalist sympathies, but because, like many of my countryfolk, I’m deeply and passionately indifferent to this ancient institution. Pre-wedding polls showed that two-thirds of Britons couldn’t care less about Harry and Meghan’s nuptials—and yet a clear majority also favor retaining the monarchy. For many of us royal agnostics, the House of Windsor is simply a perpetual fact of British life, much like the dismal weather or England flaming out of every soccer World Cup. I’m content…3 min

Main storiesTrump’s war with the Justice DepartmentWhat happenedPresident Trump this week escalated his attack on the Russia investigation, ordering the Justice Department to investigate whether the FBI’s use of an informant to approach three campaign aides during the 2016 election was an improper, partisan-motivated effort to “spy” on his team. The use of the informant was revealed earlier this month by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who subpoenaed the Justice Department for documents relating to the confidential source and other aspects of the Russia investigation. The department forcefully rejected this request, citing fears for the informant’s safety. But when media outlets published further details about the source last week, the president announced on Twitter that “I hereby demand” a Justice Department investigation into whether the FBI “infiltrated or surveilled” his team, and whether Obama…5 min

Main storiesTexas school shooting renews debate over causesWhat happenedA small Texas town was in mourning this week, after a 17-year-old student armed with his father’s shotgun and .38 revolver opened fire at his high school, killing eight students and two teachers and wounding 13 others. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a football player whom classmates described as an introvert, entered an art class at Santa Fe High School, about 35 miles southeast of Houston, shortly after 7:30 a.m. and yelled “Surprise!” before shooting. He later surrendered after a 25-minute standoff with police. Among those killed was a 16-year-old female student who had repeatedly rebuffed Pagourtzis’ romantic advances, according to her parents. Pagourtzis’ father insisted that his son was a “good boy” who had been bullied at school and “that’s what was behind” the shooting.It was the worst school shooting since…3 min

Main storiesIt wasn’t all badFor years, Matthew and Maria Colonna-Emanuel assumed that the hunk of rusted metal sitting in their shrubbery was an abandoned cable box. But when the New York couple pried opened the box during a recent landscaping project, they were shocked to discover it was a safe containing $52,000 in cash and jewelry. A piece of paper inside listed their neighbors’ address, so the pair returned the safe to its rightful owners, who explained that it had been snatched during a 2011 burglary. Maria said there was never any doubt about returning the loot, explaining, “It wasn’t ours.”More than 600 migrants have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe so far this year—most perishing when their rickety, overcrowded boats sank in the vast expanse of water. Desperate…1 min

Controversy of the weekTrade: Did Trump wimp out on China?Coming from the best-selling author of The Art of the Deal, the so-called trade deal President Trump struck last week with China sure “doesn’t look too artful,” said Andrew Ross Sorkin in The New York Times. Trump, a protectionist who sees trade deficits as the ultimate evil, had been threatening to slap tariffs worth up to $150 billion on Chinese imports, as punishment for Chinese trade practices that Trump likened to “rape.” But when a Chinese delegation resisted his negotiators’ demands at talks in Washington, Trump’s tough talk evaporated—as it so often does. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the threatened trade war is now “on hold.” The self-proclaimed World’s Greatest Negotiator came away with only a vague pledge from the Chinese to “significantly increase” their spending on U.S. goods—which China’s…3 min

Controversy of the weekGood week/bad weekGood week for:Miracles, after two women in a Lexus SUV survived a 300-foot plunge off a cliff in California. The vehicle cartwheeled down the cliff, then landed atop a rock in the deep Russian River, enabling the occupants to scramble to safety.Fine motor control, after 600 German firefighters attended a “Mechanical Failures” seminar on the safe removal of rings, plugs, bottles, and other objects from the private parts of fetishists who run into difficulties. “The training is not fun for us,” said firefighter Matthias Lehnigk.Trolling, when Hillary Clinton whipped out a traditional Russian “ushanka” hat during an address to students at Yale University. “I mean, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” Clinton told the cheering crowd, adding, “No, I’m not over it.”Bad week for:Lotharios, with the passing of a…1 min

Issue June 1, 2018 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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