The Week USA - 14.08.2026.pdf

主要故事 特朗普的律师能保持独立吗？ 第5页 托德·布兰奇 讨论点 从总统任期中获利 第16页 人物 他在教堂里学到了什么 第10页 丹尼·麦布赖德

《本周》杂志

美国及国际媒体精华 2026年8月14日 第26卷 第1300期

温和派与社会主义者就民主党的方向展开博弈 第5页和第6页 关于所有重要事项ที่คุณ需要知道的一切

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3

基辅的一处俄罗斯导弹袭击现场烟雾升腾。（第9页）

《本周》杂志

总编辑： Theunis Bates (theweekeditors@futurenet.com) 特约编辑： William Falk 执行编辑： Susan Caskie 执行总监： Jay Wilkins 副总编辑 / 艺术： Chris Mitchell 副总编辑 / 商业： Zach Schonbrun 副总编辑 / 新闻： Chris Erikson 高级编辑： Isaac Guzmán, Harold Maass, Scott Meslow, Brit Morse, Rebecca Nathanson, Tim O'Donnell, Matt Prigge, Hailie Stiller 艺术总监： Paul Crawford 副艺术总监： Rosanna Bulian 照片编辑： Mark Rykoff 文字编辑： Rob Horning 研究编辑： Allan Kew, Karen Ng 特约编辑： Ryan Devlin, Bruno Maddox 高级副总裁： Joel Griffiths 客户总监： Mary Gallagher (mary.gallagher@futurenet.com) 媒体规划经理： Andrea Crino 直接响应广告： Anthony Smyth (anthony@smythps.com) 新闻总经理： Richard Campbell 消费者营销总监： Leslie Guarnieri 北美制造经理： Lori Crook 运营经理： Cassandra Mondonedo

FUTURE PLC 首席执行官：Kevin Li-Ting 高级执行主席：Mark Bender 首席财务官：Marjole Salman

新闻

• 4 主要故事
• 6 本周争议
• 7 美国概览
• 8 世界概览
• 10 人物
• 11 简报
• 12 美国最佳专栏
• 14 国际最佳专栏
• 15 欧洲最佳专栏
• 16 讨论点
• 18 漫画
• 20 技术
• 21 健康与科学

艺术

• 22 书籍
• 23 本周作者
• 24 艺术与音乐
• 25 电影
• 26 电视

休闲

• 27 饮食
• 28 消费
• 30 房产

商业

• 32 新闻概览
• 33 赚钱之道
• 34 最佳专栏

其他

• 35 讣告
• 36 最后一言
• 38 益智游戏页

肖恩·阿斯廷 (第10页)

编辑信

我得坦白一件事：我认为克里斯托弗·诺兰的《奥德赛》只能算及格，评分 6 分（满分 10 分）。属于那种“如果深夜在酒店房间里乱换频道，我大概还会再看一遍”的程度。但根据我的社交媒体动态，这并非典型的反应。大多数人对这部改编自荷马史诗的作品的评价要么是 (a) 电影杰作，要么是 (b，尤其是如果你是埃隆·马斯克) 自黑死病以来西方文明遭遇的最糟糕的事情。但我只是觉得它有点沉闷，而且远没有 1963 年的《阿尔戈英雄传》那样令人震撼。（任何电影只要加入一场与定格动画骷髅的剑斗都能变得更好。）

尽管如此，关于《奥德赛》，有一点是我真正喜爱的：它让我们所有人都在讨论。而且讨论的竟然是那些被认为已经死去的经典。在我们的算法推荐世界里，像《奥德赛》这样的文化基石正变得越来越罕见。流媒体服务根据我们过去的点赞和观看记录，为每个人提供量身定制的电影、电视剧和音乐“饮食”；我的 Netflix 推荐列表里充斥着二战纪录片和维京人肥皂剧。当我们都漂浮在各自的娱乐气泡中时，“饮水机旁的闲谈时刻”变得不可能。

但《奥德赛》戳破了其中一些气泡。当我们走出电影院，对话便流动了起来。一些新晋的荷马专家在抱怨诺兰对文本采取的随意改编——当一个角色庄重地宣布“我们的青铜时代正在崩溃”时，我确实轻笑了一声。另一些人则指出，这部史诗在不同时代被多次重述，且总是随着当代价值观的转变而变化。

上周在做院子活儿时，我和两个邻居聊起了这部电影。其中一人认为它是对战争和人类自我毁灭倾向的深刻沉思，另一人则认为马特·达蒙是个闷闷不乐的无趣之辈。在交谈中，我意识到这是我住进这栋房子六年以来，第一次和邻居讨论电影。就像达蒙饰演的奥德修斯一样，这让我为那个正在消失的时代感到哀伤——在那个时代，我们拥有共同的文化。

也许我们可以把它找回来。那么，谁想参加一场《阿尔戈英雄英雄传》的观影派对？

Theunis Bates 总编辑

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《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 4

新闻 主打故事...

美国导弹储备不足，而特朗普寻求退出伊朗

发生了什么

特朗普总统本周声称，一项重新开放霍尔木兹海峡并结束与伊朗战争的协议已近在咫尺；与此同时，多家新闻机构报道称，由于这场持续五个月的冲突，美国军队的长程精密导弹和导弹拦截器正处于危险的低水平。在《本周》杂志发稿时，伊朗表示其与阿曼就一项协议的谈判已进入“最后阶段”，该协议将使作为中东石油重要通道的海峡在共同控制下重新开放。据 Axios 报道，根据该协议，至少 60 天内将不收取通行费或服务费——而这曾是美国方面的主要分歧点。任何协议的达成都将取决于美国解除对伊朗港口的 naval blockade（海军封锁）。

在自 2 月战争爆发以来出现的一种熟悉模式中，特朗普上周誓言要对伊朗发动“军事恐怖”，随后又以海峡问题和伊朗核计划在外交上的进展为由选择退让。在谈判期间，路透社报道称，美国军队已使用了大部分高精度长程导弹库存。三名消息人士告诉该媒体，陆军的“几乎所有”长程弹药（包括陆军战术导弹系统和精密打击导弹）都已发射，这引发了人们对美国应对未来冲突准备情况的担忧。与此同时，CNN 报道称，防空系统已严重枯竭，军方已使用了近 80% 的萨德（THAAD）拦截器和一半的爱国者拦截器。特朗普坚称，美国拥有的“弹药比世界上任何人都多”，且“远超我们的需求”。

专栏评论

蒂姆·利斯特（Tim Lister）在 CNN.com 中表示，对于任何海峡协议的潜在持久性，都有理由持“怀疑”态度。伊朗强硬派的革命卫队并未参与谈判，且任何协议都必须经其批准。而且事实依然是，美国和伊朗的议程不可调和。对海峡的“控制或监督”现在是“德黑兰的红线”——但“这种杠杆作用的前景在华盛顿、阿布扎比和利雅得是不可接受的”。

埃里卡·索罗门（Erika Solomon）在《纽约时报》中指出，伊朗认为自己“占据上风”。在那些穆拉（伊斯兰教法学者）看来，特朗普再次从威胁的军事升级中退缩，向世界传递了一个信号：他们不是那些害怕战争的人——特朗普才是。伊朗人认为，他们在横跨波斯湾的“关键能源设施和水道”中“找到了世界的阿喀琉斯之踵”，且伊朗已经证明，它可以利用无人机、弹道导弹以及地区盟友的帮助，对这些设施造成破坏并使其关闭。穆拉们不打算放弃这种权力，而特朗普并未完全意识到他们如何“拒绝被欺凌或威慑”。

丹·德卢斯（Dan De Luce）在 NBCNews.com 中表示，就在特朗普发誓伊朗渴望达成协议之时，调查人员认为德黑兰是近期美国各地市政水系统遭受网络攻击浪潮的幕后黑手。政府上周确认，“恶意网络行为者”攻击了包括明尼苏达州、密歇根州和新泽西州在内的七个州的水务运营。此次入侵发生在美方官员发出警告之后，警告称“伊朗支持的黑客正将目标对准国家的关键基础设施”。但特朗普否认了伊朗参与的说法，将明尼苏达州的攻击归咎于该州的民主党州长蒂姆·沃尔兹（Tim Walz）。

与此同时，瑞秋·E·范兰丁汉姆（Rachel E. VanLandingham）在 MS.nov 中表示，一份由军事指挥官发送的令人震惊的电子邮件显示，特朗普政府在“寻找退出路径”时正处于“困境”之中。在某种我们只能“希望是讽刺”的情况下，CNN本周报道称，美国中央司令部向军事分析师发送电子邮件，寻求“压力和惩罚伊朗的创造性且非常规的方式”。这近乎于一种“坦率的承认”，即我们的“伊朗计划正在失败”。而且，“无论怎么强调都不为过”的是，发送此类征集请求“并不是专业、胜任的军队取得成功的方式”。

乔纳·谢普（Jonah Shepp）在《纽约》杂志中表示，特朗普现在的任务是“寻找最不糟糕的退出方式”。在公众、其政党以及上周恳请他不要升级冲突的海湾盟友的压力下，他“想要且需要结束这场战争”。但除非发动地面行动，否则他没有现实路径能达成任何可以被定义为胜利的结果。由于伊朗凭借其在海峡上新获得的杠杆作用而权力增强，且愿意承受特朗普的轰炸，即使是回归战前状态——即海峡开放且对铀浓缩实施类似于伊朗“在2015年同意”的限制——似乎也毫无希望。此时此刻，这已不再是“他是否会输掉这场战争的问题，而是如何输掉的问题”。

并非全是坏事 ■ 南卡罗来纳州默特尔比奇的一位泰国餐厅老板因寻回一个装有 $1.2万,000 现金的太阳镜盒而被称为“好撒玛利亚人”。Sak Yiengjuntuek 在餐厅外的柜子里发现了这笔现金。他怀疑这属于该物业的前业主。Yiengjuntuek 找到了对方，并得知该男子刚刚被诊断出患有癌症。找回的钱将帮助他支付账单。“这是正确之举，”Yiengjuntuek 说道。 ■ 一名救助站工作人员利用直尺和玩具车制作了一个非传统的轮椅，让一只受伤的小猫再次昂首挺胸。辛辛那提的一名司机在路边的一窝小猫中发现了这只受伤的猫。这只小猫脊髓受损无法行走，但由于身高仅 4 英寸，太小而无法使用救助站的猫用轮椅。兽医助理 Mallory Smith 改用四把木制直尺、扎带、强力胶带和一些 Hot Wheels 玩具车来帮助小猫活动。在使用轮椅几周后，这只名叫 Gelato 的小猫现在可以独立站立了。“在他至今为止非常短暂的一生中，他经历了许多事情，”Smith 说道，“他非常鼓舞人心。” ■ 一位拥有 4 个孩子的澳大利亚母亲在产下四胞胎后成为了 8 个孩子的母亲，医生将其描述为一次“奇迹”。这位 34 岁的女性 Jenitar Sau Na’amoana 和她的丈夫 Jortham 原本没有计划再要孩子，但他们发现自己自然孕育了单卵性四胞胎，即四个胚胎由一个受精卵分裂而来。据估计，这种情况在每 1500 万 次怀孕中才会出现 1 次。“我们认为这在澳大利亚从未发生过，”一名医院产科医生表示。四个健康的女孩于上个月底在孕 28 周时通过剖腹产出生。

Gelato：在行动中 《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 Jason Seiler 插画。封面照片来自路透社、美联社、Getty Images，辛辛那提，美国 --- ...以及它们是如何被报道的 新闻 5 # El-Sayed 险胜密歇根州初选 ## 发生了什么 进步派激进分子 Abdul El-Sayed 本周在密歇根州民主党参议院初选中以微弱优势击败了获得建制派支持的众议员 Haley Stevens。许多政治观察家将这场竞选视为一场关于该党身份认同的全民公投。这场战斗的结果比民调显示的要接近得多。El- 曾任公共卫生官员，得到了佛蒙特州独立参议员 Bernie Sanders 和众议员 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez（纽约州民主党）的背书。他将自己的竞选作为民主党支持以色列的试金石，并抨击 Stevens 从美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）获得了超过 3000万美元 的资金——约占其广告资金的一半。Stevens 表示，如果 El- 在 11 月获胜，他将成为首位穆斯林美国参议员，而他想要“将你们所有的麻烦都归咎于美国犹太人”。在胜选确认后，El- 呼吁密歇根州民主党在与共和党提名人、前众议员 Mike Rogers 的对决前“修补关系”。另一位密歇根州进步派人士 William Lawrence 在一个关键选区的众议院民主党初选中获胜，其竞选重点在于强烈反对数据中心。但该党的左倾势头在圣路易斯陷入停滞，密苏里州众议员 Wesley Bell 在众议院初选中击败了挑战者、前众议员 Cori Bush。Bell 是一名支持以色列的温和派，在 Bush 成为首批称以色列在加沙战争为种族灭绝的在任议员之一后，Bell 在 2024 年将其击败。在这次失败后，Bush 誓言再次参选，并警告 AIPAC 她将“摧毁你们的王国”。Bell 本周以超过 20 个百分点的优势获胜。

他能赢得密歇根州吗？

专栏评论

《Politico》的亚当·伦（Adam Wren）表示，埃尔-赛义德（El-Sayed）的获胜并非他所预期的“民主党内战的决定性裁决”。他在整个竞选过程中信心十足，在投票开始时还吹嘘自己毫无压力。你能责怪他吗？一些民调显示他领先两位数。但最终，由于获得黑人和低收入选民的强力支持，史蒂文斯（Stevens）仅以一分之差落败。尽管如此，对于草根出身的埃尔-赛义德来说，这仍是一次“令人印象深刻的努力”，因为史蒂文斯的竞选支出比他高出近 6000万美元。

《The Dispatch》的凯文·D·威廉姆森（Kevin D. Williamson）质疑，民主党是在“为了好玩而比赛”还是“为了赢而比赛”？在11月击败共和党那个“乏味的特朗普代理人”罗杰斯（Rogers）本应是“相当简单”的。但在民主党提名了埃尔-赛义德之后，情况将不再简单。在他看来，埃尔-赛义德是一个“左翼傻瓜”，执着于犹太人，与播客主持人及“哈马斯辩护者”哈桑·皮克（Hasan Piker）为伍，并且“主张建立一个国家垄断的医疗保健系统，这将剥夺密歇根州工会成员珍视的福利”。在这个必须获胜的关键摇摆州，民调显示他落后于罗杰斯，支持率分别为 46% 和 43%。

《The Bulwark》的威廉·克里斯托尔（William Kristol）认为，史蒂文斯或许是一个更稳妥的选择。但一旦初选的积怨消退，“全国性的环境仍将有利于民主党提名人”。被历史上极不受欢迎的总统特朗普所玷污的是罗杰斯，而非埃尔-赛义德。如果埃尔-赛义德能暂时放下与民主党同僚的争吵，坚持打击特朗普的“基本原则”，他可以帮助他们反转参议院的局面。

布兰奇告知参议院将撤销 Jan. 6 基金

发生了什么

本周，托德·布兰奇（Todd Blanche）在安抚了参议院司法委员会两名持保留意见的共和党人后，离获得司法部长确认更近了一步。他提交了一份书面声明，称总统特朗普的 18 亿美元 billion 补偿基金“被撤销”。

参议员约翰·科宁（John Cornyn，共和党-德克萨斯州）和汤姆·蒂利斯（Thom Tillis，共和党-北卡罗来纳州）此前要求布兰奇放弃美国司法部（DOJ）在5月促成的和解协议。该协议旨在解决特朗普针对美国国税局（IRS）泄露其纳税申报单而提起的诉讼。该协议设立了一个“反武器化基金”，用于向 Jan. 6 袭击者和其他被起诉的特朗普支持者支付款项，同时还使特朗普、其家人及特朗普集团免于审计。

在布兰奇发布了一份取消该基金的签署文件，并单独向参议员保证审计屏蔽仅适用于正在进行的审计，而不适用于特朗普未来的纳税申报单后，科宁和蒂利斯放弃了对布兰奇提名的反对。然而，和解协议依然有效，因此该基金在理论上可以在某个时间点被重启。特朗普表示：“很多人喜欢它。”

在《本周》杂志付印时，参议院正准备对布兰奇的确认进行投票。由于米奇·麦康奈尔（Mitch McConnell，共和党-肯塔基州）因跌倒住院，共和党只能承受两名议员倒戈，而苏珊·柯林斯（Susan Collins，共和党-缅因州）已承诺投反对票，理由是布兰奇威胁要禁止远程医疗处方堕胎药，以及她所称的他对美国司法部（DOJ）独立性的削弱。所有参议院民主党人都准备对他投反对票，克里斯·范·霍伦（Chris Van Hollen，民主党-马里兰州）表示，投票给布兰奇就是“为秘密基金投票”。

专栏评论

“不要被布兰奇那些模棱两可的措辞所蒙蔽，”菲利普·罗特纳在《Bulwark》杂志中表示。他那些谨慎的法律术语“并没有终结特朗普那个极其腐败的基金”——那需要特朗普或其律师的签名。要么是布兰奇用他那些口头承诺“欺骗了科宁和蒂利斯”，要么就是这些参议员“干脆屈服了”。

安德鲁·C·麦卡锡在《国家评论》中表示，国税局（IRS）的审计屏蔽“至少与那个秘密基金一样糟糕”。保护任何人免受审计是“完全违法的”，而这项豁免协议预计为特朗普节省了$100 million的欠税和罚款。布兰奇在授予此类馈赠时滥用了职权，这表明他将扮演“特朗普代理人”而非公职人员的角色。

然而，苏珊·德尔·佩西奥在《MS.now》中表示，“残酷的现实”是参议院无法阻止特朗普决心任命一名唯唯诺诺的走狗担任司法部长。如果不是曾任特朗普私人律师的布兰奇，也会是“另一个同样糟糕的人”。

《费城问询报》在一篇社论中表示，令人震惊的是，“只有两名共和党参议员”——且两人在11月都不面临重新选举——提出了哪怕是有限的反对。布兰奇利用其职位以牵强的借口起诉特朗普的对手，且似乎与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的共犯吉斯莱恩·麦克斯韦达成了一项优待协议，他“根本不配担任司法部长”。即便是在代理任期内，他也已经“玷污了司法部的独立性和信任度”。

Getty 《本周》杂志 August 14, 2026 --- 6 新闻 # 本周争议

左翼：民主党是否应该接纳“民主社会主义者”？

在纽约市和科罗拉多州赢得一系列民主党初选后，极左翼的美国民主社会主义者（DSA）将在下周面临其“最大的考验”，卡罗琳·瓦基尔（Caroline Vakil）在《国会山报》（The Hill）中如此写道。如果民调准确，威斯康星州民主党州长初选的潜在获胜者将是 37 岁的州众议员弗朗西斯卡·洪（Francesca Hong），她是一名纹身的前餐厅员工，也是一名“自豪的”DSA成员，几年前她曾呼吁废除感恩节。洪试图与该言论以及DSA的激进纲领保持距离，该纲领包括废除警察、监狱、边境和美国参议院，以及停止美国对以色列的支持等提案。由于这些包袱，像现任威斯康星州州长托尼·埃弗斯（Tony Evers）这样的主流民主党人怀疑洪能在 11 月击败共和党的推定提名人众议员汤姆·蒂法尼（Tom Tiffany），并担心她会损害下游选区候选人的利益。但洪的支持者认为无需紧张。他们指出，民主党人以及广大选民中反建制情绪正在上升，并表示进步派阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德（Abdul El-Sayed）在密歇根州参议院民主党初选中的险胜表明，在紫色州（摇摆州）存在获胜的可能性。

诺亚·罗斯曼（Noah Rothman）在《国家评论》（National Review）中表示，“民主党机器正在尽其所能地反击”。民主党全国委员会上周调整了总统初选时间表，以有利于内华达州和南卡罗来纳州等倾向于中间派的州，这应该有助于抵御“其内部的造反社会主义者”。但由于现在每 3 个民主党选民中就有 1 个认同自己是民主社会主义者，这可能为时已晚，且力度不足。阿斯泰德·赫恩登（Astead Herndon）在《Vox》中表示，这是一个“建制派崩溃而非左翼崛起的故事”。像洪这样的候选人赢得普通民主党人的支持，并非依靠DSA的极端想法，而是通过推动受欢迎的措施：对超级富豪征收新税、全民医疗保险、约束人工智能产业。相比之下，“失去方向的”民主党建制派除了对特朗普总统进行无效的反对之外，什么也没有提供。

乔纳森·V·拉斯特（Jonathan V. Last）在《堡垒》（The Bulwark）中表示，我们需要更好的标签。事实是，大多数DSA成员，以及绝大多数告诉民调人员自己是“民主社会主义者”的人，根本就不是“社会主义者”。“他们是欧洲传统意义上的社会民主主义者。”就像DSA支持的众议员亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯（Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez，纽约州民主党）一样，他们的主要目标是通过更进步的税法来资助一个扩大化的福利国家，包括全民医疗覆盖。社会民主主义者还希望赢得选举，这意味着他们可以是民主党联盟中的一大资产。而DSA中那些“热爱《资本论》、崇拜毛泽东”的真正社会主义者则并非如此，在他们“对民主党做像MAGA对共和党所做的那样”之前，必须予以拒绝。

保罗·沃尔德曼（Paul Waldman）在《公共通知》（Public Notice）中表示，民主党人应该停止“抱怨”。随着初选基本结束，继续大喊“我们一半的候选人都疯了！”是对选举的自我伤害。党内的中间派需要明白，在国会控制权悬而未决的情况下，“他们有兴趣看到所有民主党人取得成功——即使是那些在他们看来过于进步的人”。

尼亚-马利卡·亨德森（Nia-Malika Henderson）在《彭博社》（Bloomberg）中表示，无论 11 月发生什么，“都将影响 2028 年”。如果DSA支持的候选人能“在紫色州取得胜利”，那么将出现一套关于如何获胜的新模板。但如果这些候选人失败，民主党将比以往任何时候都缺乏“遏制特朗普诸多过度行为”的力量，并在依然为其实际信仰而“自我纠结”的情况下驶向 2028 年。

只有在美国 ■ 加利福尼亚州惩教部面临着 15 亿美元 billion 的账单，用于更换 31 所监狱中过时或无法运行的火灾报警器，但该部门决定不予执行。相反，它在支付惩教人员加班费，让他们执行“火警监视”——在监狱中巡逻以搜寻烟雾和火灾。监狱安全专家克里斯汀·考恩（Kristen Cowan）告诉《CalMatters》，这不能替代机械火灾报警器。考恩表示，功能正常的火灾报警器是“基础的灾难准备”，而它们的缺失“让人好奇还有什么其他东西也缺失了”。 ■ 一名堪萨斯州的学校教师因在一次公开会议上为一名反对建设新数据中心的发言者鼓掌而被捕。在恩波里亚（Emporia）会议的视频片段中，物理教师卢克斯·克拉里奇（Lux Claridge）拍手约五次，随后被警察戴上手铐并将其拖出会议现场。Claridge, 37, 随后表示，虽然粗暴的对待是“一种不便”，但这不会阻止他“发声，或者，我想，鼓掌”。

本周好运：

兽装爱好者（Furries）：加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）的保护生物学家丹尼尔·布鲁姆斯坦（Daniel Blumstein）推出了“OnlyMarms”——一个发布野生土拨鼠照片的 OnlyFans 页面，以帮助抵消联邦政府对其啮齿动物研究经费的削减。布鲁姆斯坦说：“这将是 G 级（通用级）的，我们不会将其性化。” 首席高尔夫球手：特朗普总统在绿地上有作弊的名声，但他声称在新泽西州贝德明斯特的特朗普国家高尔夫俱乐部赢得了高级组和超级高级组俱乐部冠军赛，单轮成绩 70, 2 below par。80, 岁的总统在网上发帖称：“这叫天赋。我有，而他们没有！” X 世代的怀旧之情：特朗普政府宣布，将主要为数据中心提供服务的发电厂免于执行旨在遏制“酸雨”的污染标准。酸雨在 20 世纪 80 年代是头条新闻和反乌托邦小说的常客，而这一生态威胁在很大程度上已被缓解。

本周霉运：

地理学：在巴西举行的 AIDS 2026 会议上，美国国务院的一场演示文稿中使用了一张 AI 生成的非洲地图，该地图将每一个国家都标注错误，并将西非国家科特迪瓦变成了一个位于东非的内陆实体。 过度打包：阿拉巴马州湾岸国际机场的 TSA 工作人员在一名乘客的托运行李中发现了五颗内战时期的炮弹，这些炮弹显然是从附近的摩根堡（Fort Morgan）偷来的。TSA 表示：“即使是惰性且非活性的，旅客也应避免将任何类型的武器（包括复制品）带到机场。” 戏剧：佛蒙特州一部《摇滚恐怖画作》（The Rocky Horror Picture Show）的音乐总监承认，他伪造了导致演出取消的匿名威胁短信。警方表示，肯尼思·格雷尼尔（Kenneth Grenier）一直与演员阵容存在问题，想要找个借口离开。

其他新闻

特朗普计划大幅降低 Head Start 标准

特朗普政府正提议对 Head Start 的联邦要求进行剧烈改革。 是一个面向贫困儿童、已有 61 年历史的早期教育项目。美国卫生与公众服务部本周披露计划，将 的 133 pages of requirements 关于班级规模、医疗筛查和课程的要求缩减至 12 pages，而将大部分细节交给各州决定。公众将有一个月的时间对该草案规则发表评论，该规则还要求无家可归或失业的父母提供更多证明文件。该提案的一个早期版本禁止在美非法移民将其子女（即使是美国公民）注册参加该项目。白宫去年称 为“激进”项目，并试图冻结其支出。前 管理员哈里·加文（Khari Garvin）表示，如果新计划实施，“我们将只剩下 的躯壳”。

THE WEEK August 14, 2026 --- # The U.S. at a Glance NEWS 7

斯波坎 纵火逮捕： 一名曾在2010年因杀父入狱的男子本周被指控蓄意引发了肆虐华盛顿州东部的三场山火中规模最大的一场，导致数万人被迫离开家园。斯波坎县执法部门指控37岁的亚伦·法里纳奇（Aaron Farinacci）一项一级纵火罪，称其涉嫌用火柴或丁烷打火机点燃草地，引发了“旧迹火”（Old Trails Fire），该火灾此后摧毁了约700栋房屋。法里纳奇在去年的两次火灾调查中接受了执法部门的询问；他曾在因洗碗争吵期间开枪打死父亲而被判刑，服刑近十年后于2020年出狱。自上周三场大火开始以来，已有超过1万,000英亩的土地被焚毁。强风和高温加剧了火势。州长鲍勃·弗格森（Bob Ferguson）表示：“这是一个噩梦般的情况。”

爱达荷州双瀑市 In-N-Out枪击案： 一名枪手本周在一家繁忙的In-N-Out汉堡餐厅开火，造成六人受伤，三人死亡。嫌疑袭击者查德·威廉姆斯（Chad Williams）死于自杀性枪伤。当局描述称，在24岁的威廉姆斯在一家人流量巨大的购物中心附近开始使用一支大口径步枪射击后，现场陷入了人们争相逃生以寻求安全的“混乱局面”。他们赞扬了两名旁观者——一名休假中的州警和一名私人公民——的“英雄行为”，他们还击迫使威廉姆斯寻找掩护。死者中包括一名In-N-Out员工，公司总裁林西·斯奈德（Lynsi Snyder）在声明中表示，该员工在被一名“不尊重他人生命也不尊重自己生命的卑劣人类”夺走生命时，正处于“照顾我们最重要的资产——我们的客户”的状态。向威廉姆斯开火的旁观者之一乔丹·萨利纳斯（Jordan Salinas）告诉ABC新闻，嫌疑人起初看起来很冷静，但一旦有人向他开火，他的态度就发生了变化。萨利纳斯说：“所有那些虚张声势立刻就崩溃了。”

密苏里州杰斐逊城 共和党失利： 密苏里州和堪萨斯州的选民本周否决了共和党旨在简化堕胎禁令的尝试。在堪萨斯州，超过60%的选民拒绝通过一项旨在开始选举州最高法院法官（而非由任命产生）的投票提案。该提案由反堕胎倡导者推动，他们对该州最高法院的组成感到不满，因为这些法官是由该州（堕胎合法）的民主党州长任命的。堕胎权的获取可能也是导致高达80%的密苏里州人拒绝一项旨在增加修改州宪法难度的投票提案的原因。该州由共和党控制的立法机构曾希望终止近年来用于授予堕胎权的程序。然而，密苏里州州务卿拒绝认证一项公民请愿，该请愿寻求在11月就该州新划分的国会选区地图进行全民公投，该地图将堪萨斯市的一个选区转变为有利于共和党的选区。

北卡罗来纳州亨德森维尔 众议院骚扰案： 众议员查克·爱德华兹（Chuck Edwards，共和党-北卡罗来纳州）在本周放弃了竞选连任，此前众议院伦理委员会发现有“充分理由相信”他性骚扰女性员工。委员会的报告结论称，65岁的已婚人士爱德华兹“对两名年轻女性工作人员采取了持续的非专业且不恰当的行为”。他送给她们的礼物从奢侈品——度假、名牌包、电子产品、价值超过$1,000的珠宝——到古怪之物，如配套的手枪、一台扫地机器人和一台KitchenAid搅拌机。爱德华兹否认有任何不当行为。委员会本周还开始调查众议员马克斯·米勒（Max Miller，共和党-俄亥俄州），他曾是特朗普的助手，目前面临家庭暴力指控。据《Axios》报道，尽管特朗普总统告诉他“情况不乐观”，但米勒誓言将继续参选。

底特律 致命疫情： 本周，美国首次出现了由环孢子虫病（cyclosporiasis）引起的死亡病例，这种会导致腹泻的寄生虫在更多州被检测到。在疫情中心密歇根州，有两人死于这种肠道疾病。密歇根州卫生部门表示，两名受害者均患有基础疾病，脱水可能加剧了病情。全国环孢子虫病病例数超过 2.2万,000 例，其中 517 人住院。卫生官员将此次疫情部分归因于源自墨西哥的切碎冰山生菜，本周阿肯色州、爱荷华州、密苏里州、内布拉斯加州、新罕布什尔州和北卡罗来纳州的多名患者描述在发病前曾在塔可贝尔（Taco Bell）用餐。美国最大的食品分销商 Sysco 表示，已停止从墨西哥采购冰山生菜。但该疾病有两周的潜伏期，导致症状出现滞后。前 FDA 局长 Stephen Ostroff 表示：“我们可能解决了 Taylor Farms 切碎生菜的问题，但这不太可能解释我们看到的所有情况。”

华盛顿特区 天际线受干扰： 根据国家公园管理局的分析，特朗普总统提议建造的 250 英尺高的凯旋门将通过遮挡数十个历史遗迹的视野，剧烈改变华盛顿特区的天际线。本周发布的报告列出了 37 处将受到这座镀金拱门“不利影响”的地点，该拱门将遮挡阿灵顿国家公墓（Arlington National Cemetery）阵亡士兵的坟墓，并阻断林肯纪念堂与罗伯特·E·李的阿灵顿故居之间——旨在象征南北统一——的走廊。这座拟建的纪念碑高度超过了首都的法定高度限制，是特朗普在第二任期内于华盛顿启动的 18 个重大建设项目之一。白宫一名官员为该项目辩护，称其将“提升游客在阿灵顿国家公墓的体验”。退役陆军军官 Gary Langston 则表示反对，他认为前来祭拜阵亡战友坟墓的退伍军人将会“抬头看到一个观景台，游客们正从上面俯视着你”。

Getty (2) 路透社, 美国, 火艺委员会 (Commission of Fire Arts) THE WEEK August 14, 2026 --- 8 新闻

世界概览

渥太华 抵制美国： 上周公布的政府数据显示，在特朗普总统实施关税并发出吞并威胁后，加拿大人去年大幅减少了前往美国的旅行。加拿大人在 2025, 前往美国的次数为 2900 万，低于 2024. 的 3900 万。这次抵制导致美国损失了超过 20 亿加元 billion 的消费，由于加拿大人转而选择欧洲和亚洲的度假目的地，这笔资金流向了其他国家。多伦多 Golf Away Tours 的所有者 T.J. Rule 告诉《环球邮报》，虽然 2024, 美国约占其预订量的 13%，但今年美国行程仅占 0.05%。“人们仍然想要温暖的气候，”他说，但“他们通常在考虑葡萄牙和西班牙。”

丹麦，斯拉格尔斯 皇室新兵： 丹麦的伊莎贝拉公主（Princess Isabella，19, 岁）本周开始了为期 11 个月的兵役，此前强制征兵制于上个月扩大到女性。丹麦在 2024 年制定了加强军事力量的计划，这是由对俄罗斯侵略的担忧引发的，而特朗普总统推动接管丹麦领土格陵兰岛的行为进一步增强了其决心。该国此前主要依赖志愿者，并通过男性的抽签征兵来填补空缺。在向特朗普发出的一个含蓄信号中，征召兵现在首次在服役期间被部署到格陵兰岛。丹麦总理 Mette Frederiksen 上个月告诉北约盟友，丹麦准备捍卫联盟领土的每一寸土地，“包括我们自己的。”

西班牙，休达 边境踩踏事件： 上周，超过 7万,000 人从摩洛哥冲向西班牙在北非的领土休达，他们通过游泳和翻越铁丝网围栏，拼命试图踏上欧洲土地。这次大迁徙是由一段疯传的视频引发的，该视频错误地声称最近的一项西班牙法院裁决将允许摩洛哥人留下来。西班牙向这座人口 8万,000 人的不堪重负的城市派遣了士兵以恢复秩序，并在几天内将几乎所有移民遣返回摩洛哥。（虽然欧盟国家必须为入境移民提供庇护听证会，但休达和梅利利亚这两个飞地——位于直布罗陀海峡对面、西班牙持有数世纪之久的微小土地——适用不同的规则。）在混乱期间，至少 88 人死于溺水或踩踏。休达市长兼主席胡安·赫苏斯·维瓦斯（Juan Jesús Vivas）表示，这场“暴行”得到了摩洛哥的“鼓励或允许”，摩洛哥可能试图以此惩罚马德里与摩洛哥的死对头阿尔及利亚之间关系的缓和。摩洛哥政府断然否认参与其中。欧洲的极右翼政党分享了混乱的画面——其中一些是伪造的，例如一段据称显示摩洛哥警察向被遣返移民投掷石块的视频——并将此归咎于西班牙左翼总理佩德罗·桑切斯（Pedro Sánchez），他曾为约 50万,000 名无证工人提供获得合法居留权的途径。特朗普政府的几名成员也分享了涌入的场景，该政府因西班牙反对伊朗战争而对其感到愤怒，并因摩洛哥加入特朗普的加沙和平委员会而对其感到满意。副总统 JD Vance 发帖称：“感谢上帝 @POTUS 当选，我们国家的边境不再像这样了。”

哈瓦那 间谍来了： 据《Politico》本周报道，特朗普政府近几个月向古巴派遣了额外的情报资产，以增加压力试图推翻该岛的共产主义政府。中情局（CIA）规模的扩大可能是为军事行动做准备的战术步骤。上个月，一份国务院报告警告称，中国一直在扩大其在古巴的情报收集设施，古巴距离佛罗里达州 90 英里，是监控美国军事活动的理想观察点。对美国意图的不确定性正使人们神经紧张。本周，由于美国封锁石油运输，岛上再次发生大停电，许多人睡在哈瓦那的海堤马莱孔（Malecón）边以缓解酷暑。“情况只会变得更糟，”哈瓦那居民亚历克谢·里奥斯·加西亚（Alexey Ríos García）说道。

奔向西班牙 导弹留下了一个弹坑。

波兰，卢布林 俄罗斯袭击： 上周，在针对邻国乌克兰的一波空袭中，一枚俄罗斯巡航导弹击中了波兰南部的一片田野，加深了人们对俄罗斯战争可能将北约卷入的担忧。当检测到这枚低空飞行的导弹时，波兰和北约盟友紧急起飞了战斗机，并在导弹坠毁前准备将其击落。“这次事件是俄罗斯的又一次鲁莽行为，也是其对乌战争带来的危险后果，”北约秘书长马克·吕特（Mark Rutte）表示。此次事件无人受伤，但导弹留下了一个 32 英尺深的弹坑。这是今年第二次侵入北约领土，此前一名俄罗斯无人机于 5 月击中了一栋罗马尼亚公寓楼。波兰国防部长瓦得斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡米什（Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz）表示，该导弹于今年生产这一事实证实了“俄罗斯的战时储备已经耗尽”。

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 盖蒂图片社 (2) 路透社

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世界概览

新闻 9

基辅

极缺拦截弹： 本周，俄罗斯利用乌克兰防空系统耗尽的机会，向乌克兰首都发起多轮弹道导弹袭击，炸毁了火车站、酿酒厂和邮政仓库等平民场所。至少 17 人死亡。乌克兰的美国制“爱国者”防御系统的拦截弹已用尽。总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基表示：“拦截弹本可以挽救今天那些遇难者的生命。我们的合作伙伴必须明白，供应延迟或不愿提供反弹道系统，将直接导致如此可怕的伤亡。”与此同时，俄罗斯称乌克兰是对莫斯科一家餐厅发动轰炸的幕后黑手，当时亚历山大·恰伊科将军正在那里庆祝生日。恰伊科并未丧生，但另有五人死亡。

巴基斯坦，布罗德峰

登山者遗体被发现： 本周，救援人员在巴基斯坦布罗德峰发现了著名英籍尼泊尔登山家尼尔马尔·“尼姆斯”·普尔贾（Nirmal "Nims" Purja）及另外九名登山者的遗体，他们此前在一次雪崩中被卷走。普尔贾，43, 曾在 2021 年的 Netflix 纪录片《14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible》中出镜，他在当时创纪录的 189 天内登顶了世界 14 座最高峰。由他创立旨在为尼泊尔社区筹款的慈善机构 Nimsdai 基金会表示：“他的遗产将在他改变的无数生命以及他激励人们去攀登各自人生高峰的精神中延续。”遇难者中还包括莎拉·马洛里·盖斯，39. 这位美国登山家最近关闭了她在圣安东尼奥的普拉提工作室以追求登山事业，此次是她首次尝试挑战 14 座高峰之一。

缅甸，内比都

苏奇现身： 缅甸军政府本周公布证据，证明该国前文职领导人、诺贝尔奖得主昂山苏奇在被拘禁五年多后仍然在世。苏奇的英国籍儿子金·阿里斯（Kim Aris）此前发起了一场要求军政府交出其母亲的运动，一名红十字会代表获准与她会面。苏奇，81, 在数十年间一直是缅甸亲民主斗争的象征，并在 2016 年至 2021, 年军方发动政变夺权前担任政府实际负责人。她在系列政治审判中被判定犯有贿赂等罪名，并一直被隔离拘禁。阿里斯表示：“我希望这是透明化、人道主义准入以及最终让我母亲获得自由的开始。但希望并非证据。”

加沙城

哈马斯会缴械吗？ 特朗普总统上周宣布，在与他的和平委员会（Board of Peace）谈判后，哈马斯已同意放弃武器。特朗普表示，这项由美国斡旋的协议标志着“哈马斯及加沙其他武装巴勒斯坦组织完全缴械的历史性协议”，称其为“迈向持久和平的里程碑式一步”。但哈马斯与以色列之间的僵局依然存在。哈马斯本周表示，只有在以色列停止袭击并将其军队从加沙完全撤出后才会缴械，而以色列则表示，在哈马斯缴械前不会这样做。以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的一位发言人表示，在哈马斯完全缴械前撤军将导致“另一次 7 风格的袭击”。

布尼亚，刚果

分娩死亡： 据美联社本周报道，自5月刚果东部爆发埃博拉疫情以来，刚果女性在分娩时死亡的人数几乎翻了一番。孕妇们一直在避开诊所和医院，部分原因是担心在那里感染病毒，部分原因是诊所容易受到攻击。一些当地医院遭到了埃博拉死者亲属的冲击，这些人愤怒于他们不被允许领取仍具有传染性的亲人遗体。在这次危机之前，刚果的孕产妇死亡率就已位居世界前列，在埃博拉疫情中心伊图里省，平均每周有三名女性死于妊娠并发症。这一数字现在已上升到每周近六人死亡。与此同时，疫情以前所未有的速度传播，已导致1,600多人死亡。

普拉霍沃，塞尔维亚

多瑙河干涸： 路透社报道称，沿塞尔维亚与罗马尼亚边境，多瑙河的水位已降至极低水平，导致数十艘德国二战战舰的残骸显露出来。这些船只曾是纳粹在1944年为了阻挡苏联军队推进而故意凿沉的约200艘船队的一部分，其中许多船只仍携带爆炸物和实弹。多瑙河是欧洲最长的河流，流经10个国家，所有这些国家都受到了今年夏天严重干旱的影响。罗马尼亚不得不关闭其一个通常由多瑙河水冷却的核反应堆，工人们则通过爆破岩石将水引向另一个反应堆的冷却池。匈牙利在水位缓慢回升之前，差点关闭其苏联时代核电站的所有四个反应堆。总理彼得·马扎尔（Peter Magyar）表示：“我们距离完全关闭仅差几毫米。”

Cathy, Reuters 09, Getty 《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 10 新闻 人物

麦布赖德的宗教教育

大卫·马切塞（David Marchese）在《纽约时报》中写道，教会已不再是丹尼·麦布赖德（Danny McBride）生活的一部分。但在弗吉尼亚州长大期间，《正义宝石》（The Righteous Gemstones）的创作者曾是主日礼拜的常客。这位演员兼喜剧演员说，他的母亲在家族的小浸信会教区里是一名“木偶传道师”。“她会编写这些剧本并进行儿童布道。这些关于为什么不应该偷窃或觊觎邻居之物的道德小故事。”49岁的麦布赖德认为，这就是他获得叙事能力的地方。“我觉得其中有些有趣的地方——知道有些东西是为了造福他人而精心构思的。”在麦布赖德的父母离婚且信徒们开始议论他的母亲后，全家停止了去教堂。 “那里成了让她感到不舒服的地方。”但回首往事，他意识到自己在教堂长椅上坐着时学到了所有的“基本道德和价值观”，这让他开始担心自己的孩子。“我理所当然地认为他们会从周围的世界中习得所有这些东西，但事实并非如此。坦白说，现在是一个危险的时代，手机的影响力如此之大，人们在没有真正意识到的时候接触到了很多东西。甚至算法也会污染你对正确与错误的认知。”

一位咖啡猎人对野生咖啡豆的搜寻

托马斯·韦伯在《经济学人》中写道，亚伦·戴维斯（Aaron Davis）是一位野生咖啡勘探者。作为伦敦邱园（Kew Gardens）的一位植物学家，他花费了数十年时间对全球咖啡品种进行编目，同时寻找一种最终能够取代两种最流行品种——阿拉比卡（arabica）和罗布斯塔（robusta）的咖啡，因为这两者都容易受到气候变化的影响。这是一项令人精疲力竭且危险的工作。在 20 世纪 90 年代后期搜寻马达加斯加森林时，戴维斯患上了战壕足，并因钩虫病在医院住了一周。他带着眷恋回忆起那些磨难。“天真、年轻且没有太多资金，这种组合总是让事情变得刺激，”61 岁的戴维斯说道。他在 2018 年在塞拉利昂发现了他的“白鲸”：stenophylla，一种曾被认为已经灭绝的耐热咖啡品种。品尝它的感觉是“令人震撼的”。精品烘焙商现在竞相销售有限的 stenophylla 供应，但更广泛的行业对此持怀疑态度，认为该品种在大规模种植方面挑战太大。戴维斯正继续在西非搜寻更多野生咖啡品种。“我不再喝那些普通货色了，”他在谈到最近访问塞拉利昂时酒店提供的雀巢咖啡（Nescafé）时笑着说，“我喝的是科学界甚至还不知道的东西。”

阿斯汀如何避开童星陷阱

史蒂夫·罗斯在（英国）《卫报》中写道，肖恩·阿斯汀（Sean Astin）追随母亲的脚步——但非常谨慎。帕蒂·杜克（Patty Duke）在 16 岁时因在《奇迹工作者》中饰演海伦·凯勒而获得奥斯卡奖，她在 8 岁时就被经纪人接管，被喂食药物和酒精，并遭受性虐待和经济剥削。但她从未阻止儿子追求演艺事业；13 岁时，他出演了《寻宝奇兵》（1985）的主角。“我认为她想通过抚养一个能够拥有类似经历但没有那种创伤的孩子，来弥补她童年的痛苦，”阿斯汀说。杜克在片场对儿子保护得非常严密——“她只有 4 英尺 11 英寸高，但能把人们吓得半死”——而且这奏效了。阿斯汀避免了许多同辈童星所遭受的心理创伤，包括他在《寻宝奇兵》中的搭档科里·费尔德曼（Corey Feldman），后者后来指控在好莱坞遭受童年性虐待，并与药物滥用作斗争。“我对药物、酒精或放荡的行为从未感兴趣。我在 21 岁时结婚了。”现年 55 岁的阿斯汀以在《指环王》三部曲中饰演山姆·甘吉而闻名，他是 SAG-AFTRA 的主席，这是杜克在 1980 年代领导的好莱坞工会的现代版本。“我不指望有人看着我说他完美得无懈可击，但我喜欢人们看着我说：‘哇，他把自己的生活理顺了’这种感觉。”

新闻动态 ■ 妮可·基德曼（Nicole Kidman）可能有了新男友——上周一名消息人士告诉澳大利亚媒体《新想法》（New Idea），这一消息让她的前夫基思·厄本（Keith Urban）“彻底崩溃”。这位 59 岁的女演员上个月在意大利波托菲诺度假时，被拍到与私募股权投资者迈克尔·莱因斯坦（Michael Reinstein）亲密接触。知情人士称，这些照片让基思“心碎”，因为在此之前他一直希望“可能还有机会复合”。消息人士表示，这位 58 岁的乡村音乐之星正经历着与这对夫妇在 1 月份敲定离婚后相同的“深切丧失感”。与此同时，基德曼正在拥抱离婚后的生活。另一名消息人士说：“毫无疑问，妮可比过去几年任何时候都更快乐。” ■ 贾里德·莱托（Jared Leto）上周否认了一部新的 BBC 纪录片中四名女性对他提出的多项性行为不端和袭击指控，称这些指控“绝对且断然是虚假的”。在《贾里德·莱托：好莱坞的黑暗秘密》（Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret）中，这些女性表示，相关事件发生在 2002 年至 2016 年之间，当时她们是青少年，而莱托处于 30 多岁和 40 多岁。其中一名女性表示，当她 17 岁时，现年 54 岁的这位演员在一家汽车旅馆的浴室里对她实施了性袭击。另一人指控莱托在她 16 岁时通过露骨的性电话对其进行诱导（grooming）。去年发表的一篇《航空邮件》（Air Mail）报告中，有 9 名女性提出了类似的指控。所有指控均未导致刑事起诉，莱托在声明中表示，他“一生从未性袭击过任何人”。 ■ 亚利桑那州警方上周公布了两封勒索信，据称是由 2 月份从图森地区家中绑架萨凡纳·古斯里（Savannah Guthrie）母亲的人发送的。第一封信于 2 月 2 日发出，要求这位《今日》（Today）节目主播支付至少 400万美元 的比特币，并警告如果 2 月 9 日前未收到款项，“她将被杀害”。第二封信于 2 月 6 日发出，称 84 岁的南希·古斯里（Nancy Guthrie）因“心脏相关”疾病意外去世，现已“葬于自然之中”。皮马县警长办公室表示，公布这些信件是希望有人能认出信息中“独特的语言特征”，从而引导他们找到绑架者。萨凡纳·古斯里上周在 Instagram 上发布的一条信息中写道，她的家人在过去的六个月里，“每一刻，每一次呼吸，每一次心跳都处于极度的痛苦和绝望之中”。

THE WEEK 2026 年 8 月 14 日 Getty 10 --- 简报 新闻 11

削减美国“最伟大的创意”的资金

特朗普政府的政策导致许多国家公园面临人员和资金短缺。

公园系统受欢迎程度如何？

去年，国家公园管理局（NPS）记录到其 433 个公园、物业、战场和纪念碑共计约 3.23 亿 次访问。这比 2024 年 3.32 亿 的历史最高点略有下降，但仍高于职业美式足球、棒球、篮球、NASCAR、足球以及迪士尼主题公园的总参观人数。NPS 成立于 1916 年，如今是美国最受喜爱的机构之一。皮尤研究中心 2024 年的一项调查发现，76% 的美国人（包括共和党和民主党的绝大多数）对其持好感，这一比例高于任何其他联邦机构。但管理着全美 8500 万 英亩以上土地的 NPS，现在由于特朗普政府的人员削减和关键资金重新分配，面临着不确定的未来。作家兼环保主义者华莱士·斯特格纳（Wallace Stegner）曾宣布国家公园是美国的“最伟大创意”，但非营利组织国家公园保护协会（NPCA）的约翰·加德纳（John Garder）表示，该政府“对待我们的瑰宝却完全不是那么回事”。

有多少国家公园工作人员被解雇？

根据国家公园保护协会（NPCA）的数据，自第二任特朗普政府开始以来，该机构已失去了近 25% 的永久员工——超过 4,000 个岗位。2025, 年初，约 1,000 名处于试用期的公园员工被解雇，而资深员工则通过延迟辞职和提前退休计划离职。负责监督国家公园管理局（NPS）的内政部长道格·伯格姆（Doug Burgum）表示，该机构可以通过让员工专注于实际操作工作（如清理步道）在人员减少的情况下维持标准。“我希望增加这类工作，”他说，“我希望减少管理开支。”传统上在幕后工作的员工被推向了更多的一线岗位；在约塞米蒂国家公园，2025 年春季保洁人员的短缺意味着该公园的科学家、IT 专家和高级管理人员不得不轮班清理厕所。人员削减和季节性工人招聘的延迟导致入园大门出现拥堵，在一些大型公园，由于取消了定时入园预约系统，这种情况进一步恶化。“这交通让我想起了高峰时段的洛杉矶，”萨克拉门托居民沃尔特·迈耶（Walter Meyer）在 4 月访问约塞米蒂时说道。

这些削减是否影响了公园安全？

由于人员短缺以及对更多培训和设备的需要，内华达州南部的米德湖国家娱乐区在 5 月悄悄暂停了潜水队的行动。该湖一直被列为 NPS 管理的最致命地点之一，每年平均有 20 人在公园内死亡，大多数死于溺水；潜水队的职责之一就是打捞溺水者的尸体。一名约塞米蒂国家公园的 NPS 员工告诉《卫报》，去年的工人短缺意味着游客可以“肆意破坏公园而无需承担后果”，并且可以侥幸逃脱那些潜在危险行为的惩罚，例如没有妥善地储存食物。“我们不希望熊吃人的食物，因为它们会变得具有攻击性，”该员工说，“我担心公园会退化到安全成为一个问题的地步。”而今年，随着特朗普总统将资金重新定向到他青睐的项目，国家公园面临的问题进一步增加。

特朗普如何花这些钱？

据《华盛顿邮报》在 6 月初报道，来自大弯曲国家公园和黄石国家公园等公园的游客入园费中，至少有 9000万美元 被转移到了华盛顿特区。其中大部分资金用于特朗普要求的在国家 250 岁生日庆典之前的美化项目，包括用于喷泉维修以及林肯纪念堂反思池那次失败的衬里更换工程的 7600万美元。入园费还被用于资助首都 7 月 4 日的烟花表演；此次费用为 $1600万，是往年费用的五倍多。NPS 今年春天还花费了 $68.9232万,232 拆除连接椭圆形办公室与白宫住宅的走道，这段通勤路程仅需 45 秒。特朗普不喜欢历史悠久的米色田纳西旗石，并将其更换为在意大利雕刻的抛光黑色非洲花岗岩。公园倡导者表示，所有这些资金如果用于解决 NPS 积压的 240 亿美元 billion 基础设施维修和改进需求，将会产生更好的效果。“这不是该制度的设计初衷，”NPCA 的埃德·斯蒂尔利（Ed Stierli）说道，“不应该为了一个公园而牺牲整个国家公园系统。”

许多公园是否错失了资金？

今年原定获得资助的 900 多个国家公园管理局（NPS）项目尚未收到资金。其中包括黄石资源中心一项 $1500万 的屋顶更换工程，该中心目前正面临漏水和害虫侵袭的问题。在科罗拉多州的冈尼森黑峡谷国家公园，一段被认为对游客构成“重大安全隐患”的悬崖边缘护栏将无法更换；在弗吉尼亚州的申安多厄国家公园，沿景观公路的崩塌墙壁将无法修复。在俄勒冈州的火山口湖，主干道上坑洼遍布，两栋员工住房因发霉而被关闭。

是否有人在试图保护 NPS？

一些国会议员以及 的工作人员正在发声。当特朗普政府开始削减员工人数时，一群休假和前员工组成了“反抗护林员”（Resistance Rangers），以记录 的削减计划和政策变动；而一些被解雇的工人则在约塞米蒂公园悬挂了一面倒置的美国国旗——这是求救信号。与此同时，华盛顿的立法者们拒绝了特朗普 2027 年预算案中关于进一步裁减近 3,000 名 员工，并将该机构预算从 32 亿美元 billion 削减至 22 亿美元 billion 的计划。没有哪个立法者希望为削减这样一个深受喜爱的机构的资金而负责。此外，参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基（Lisa Murkowski，共和党-阿拉斯加州）表示：“我只需要知道公园里有人在帮我们抵御熊类。”

正在重写历史

在美国各地的公园和纪念碑中，特朗普政府正在重塑讲述美国故事的方式。自特朗普在 2025 年 3 月签署一项行政命令，要求 移除任何“不恰当地诋毁美国过去或现今人士”或宣传“党派意识形态”的展示以来，至少有 51 个展览从 37 个地点被撤除。在费城乔治·华盛顿故居遗址，官员们移除了关于奴隶贸易的展板以及诸如“奴隶制的肮脏生意”等批判性标题，但保留了关于首任总统在故居中囚禁九名奴隶的记载。在蒙大拿州的冰川国家公园，一份关于气候变化的宣传册和一段视频被没收。在德克萨斯州的大弯曲国家公园，近 20 个标牌被标记为待移除，其中一些涉及化石和地质学等毫无争议的主题。在亚利桑那州的大峡谷和怀俄明州的大提顿国家公园，关于针对美洲原住民暴行的展览被移除。NPCA 的艾伦·斯皮尔斯（Alan Spears）表示：“美国人依靠国家公园来帮助我们了解完整且丰富的历史。无论是胜利还是悲剧的故事，都值得被大声讲述。”

《本周》杂志 August 14, 2026 --- 12 新闻

最佳专栏：美国

关于泳池闹剧的“大谎言”

亚伦·布莱克 (Aaron Blake)

亚伦·布莱克表示，当联邦检察官珍妮·皮罗（Jeanine Pirro）上周承认没有证据表明林肯纪念堂反思池遭到破坏时，这并不令人意外。但正是这一点让这段荒诞的插曲变得“如此令人震惊”。在前美国奥运皮划艇运动员大卫·赫恩（David Hearn）伸手触摸泳池底部新安装的、正在分解的蓝色部分后，特朗普政府指控他犯有重罪。荒谬的是，特朗普声称藻类的生长和翻新泳池底部的失效是“企图摧毁我国珍贵纪念碑的激进左翼破坏者的所为”。特朗普、皮罗和其他政府官员将赫恩当作替罪羊，声称拥有破坏者在底部切开一条 300-foot-long 裂口的照片。而“那些照片从未出现”。在收到内政部自己的分析报告后，皮罗撤销了对赫恩的所有指控，报告显示油漆剥落是“安装失误的结果，而非人为破坏”。愤怒的特朗普表示他对皮罗“非常失望”，称她在压力下“窒息”且“屈服”了。这段超现实的插曲告诉我们，要为特朗普工作，你必须愿意否认现实——即使这意味着“将一个无辜的人投入监狱”。

完整的家庭有助于学生取得成功

伊恩·罗（Ian Rowe）和布拉德·威尔考克斯（Brad Wilcox） 《华尔街日报》

伊恩·罗和布拉德·威尔考克斯表示，偏见并非导致学校成绩出现种族差异的主要原因。最近有消息称，纽约市精英学校斯塔伊文森特高中（Stuyvesant High School）的 777 名新生中只有三名是黑人，活动人士和政治家立即将其视为“歧视的证明”和系统“被操纵”的证据。但斯塔伊文森特高中黑人比例极低——以及亚裔学生占据学生人数三分之二——的主要原因与肤色无关，而与家庭结构有关。美国只有 30% 的黑人儿童与一对已婚父母共同生活，而亚裔儿童这一比例为 80%。来自国家儿童健康调查（National Survey of Children's Health）的数据显示，来自“非完整家庭”的儿童获得好成绩的可能性低 13%，引发纪律问题的可能性高 47%，且患抑郁症的可能性是前者的两倍。“这一切都不能成为学校系统辜负黑人、西班牙裔和低收入家庭的借口。”这也不意味着我们必须简单地将来自不稳定家庭环境的孩子交给一个暗淡的未来。但只有当我们能对学习差异存在的原因“保持诚实”时，我们才能有效地解决这些差异。

特朗普否认其不受欢迎

彼得·贝克（Peter Baker） 《纽约时报》

彼得·贝克表示，特朗普总统的民调支持率已跌至历史低点，但“不要指望他会改变方向”。多项民调发现，特朗普的支持率已跌至约 33%——这是自理查德·尼克松因水门事件辞职前以来，任何一位总统的最低支持率。在油价上涨、伊朗战争和腐败的推动下，特朗普糟糕的支持率“会让一个正常的白宫陷入恐慌模式”，从而导致内阁成员被解雇和政策调整。在白宫之外，民调结果“让共和党人日益不安，因为他们担心民主党将掀起一股浪潮，可能导致他们在 11 月失去众议院，甚至可能是参议院”。但特朗普只是在否认自己不受欢迎，坚持认为他的支持率在 60% 到 65% 之间。“无论他是否相信这些数字，”他继续推进极不受欢迎的“遗产项目”，例如他的白宫舞厅和一个巨大的凯旋门。特朗普一直以来都像“一个更受欢迎的总统”那样治理国家，尽管他在任何一次选举中从未获得 50% 的选票，也从未突破 50% 的支持率。现在，即使处于“总统任期的最低谷”，特朗普仍在加倍下注，仅由自己的冲动和直觉引导。

观点

“通常情况下，一种时尚需要数年时间才能传播。如今，社交媒体极大地加速了这个周期，而社交媒体是数百万年轻人的主要信息和新闻来源。我们今天看到的民主社会主义就是一种时尚。尽管它在不久的将来可能会造成一些破坏，但它终将崩溃，仅被人们记得为一种短暂的政治幻想。我们今天看到的社会主义和右翼民粹主义都是暂时的狂热，它们占据了我们的注意力、精力（在我的职业中）以及专栏版面，但却分散了我们对国家缓慢衰落这一现实的关注。在政治上，我们是在罗马燃烧时依然在悠闲地弹琴。” 亚瑟·布鲁克斯（Arthur Brooks）发表于《自由出版社》（The Free Press）

既然在小报上读到了……那一定是真的 ■ 一家有线电视公司的员工在诉讼中称，他的老板通过让低绩效员工被奶油派砸脸的方式，对其进行仪式性的羞辱。康涅狄格州普莱恩维尔一家 Comcast 门店的销售顾问大卫·菲格罗亚（David Figueroa）表示，经理每月会对销售人员进行排名，并要求表现最好的人向被绑在椅子上的表现最差者砸奶油派。诉状称，经理将这些羞辱过程录像。Comcast 的一名发言人对菲格罗亚的说法表示异议。 ■ 一名意大利诈骗者因建造了一个精致但虚假的罗马圆形剧场，并向每位游客收取 $45 的参观费而被判入狱。69 岁的弗兰科·马洛索（Franco Malosso）声称在 2025 年的一次山体滑坡后，在维琴察市附近发现了这座遗迹。他称其为世界上最古老的圆形剧场之一，可追溯到公元 393 年，并声称尤利乌斯·凯撒和克利奥帕特拉曾到访此处。但调查人员发现，他使用玻璃纤维和纸浆等现代材料建造了该遗址，包括柱子和希腊风格的雕像。他已开始执行 28 个月的监禁。 ■ 一个忍受了 33万,000 加仑腐烂鱼露恶臭数十年的加拿大小镇终于得到了缓解。自从一家发酵鱼露的公司在 20 多年前关闭后，圣玛丽镇（St. Mary's）就一直遭受着令人作呕的恶臭，因为 100 多个 3,000 加仑的储罐中留下了发酵的鱼露。市长史蒂夫·赖安（Steve Ryan）说，那是“你一生中闻过的最糟糕的腐烂鱼味，再乘以 100”。省政府最终同意支付 $1200万 的清理费用，鱼露将被混合在泥炭藓中并埋在垃圾填埋场。“这是一个巨大的解脱，”赖安说。

《本周》杂志 2026 年 8 月 14 日 --- 美国邮轮线 (AMERICAN CRUISE LINES)

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最佳专栏：国际

阿根廷 侮辱我们最大的邻国 Pablo Vaca，《克拉林报》（Clarín）

Pablo Vaca 表示，哈维尔·米莱刚刚与阿根廷的“主要贸易伙伴”发生了冲突。这位右翼总统出席了在巴西为弗拉维奥·博尔索纳罗（Flávio Bolsonaro，被监禁的前巴西总统雅伊尔·博尔索纳罗之子）举行的总统竞选集会。米莱在集会上像往常一样大肆表演，谴责现任巴西总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦（Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva）是一个“小偷”和“囚犯”。他的这些“流氓言论”是不可原谅的侮辱，现在巴西已经召回了其大使。米莱一直试图证明自己是近期在拉丁美洲（包括萨尔瓦多、智利、秘鲁、玻利维亚、巴拉圭、厄瓜多尔和哥伦比亚）掌权的极右翼煽动者中的头号人物，因为他渴望获得“老板中的老板”唐纳德·特朗普的关注。毕竟，特朗普去年通过 200 亿美元 billion 的货币掉期帮他解了围，而他可能“再次需要这个恩惠”。但将阿根廷的命运与这些人绑定是一次“冒险之举”。博尔索纳罗很可能在 10 月输给卢拉，而特朗普在 美国 中期选举后可能面临弹劾。米莱目前并不受欢迎，支持率在 40% 略下方徘徊。如果他希望继续执行其自由意志主义经济计划，他必须“停止侮辱”外国人，并专注于自己的国家。

阿尔及利亚 我们现在是一个伊斯兰国家吗？ Akram Torki，《非洲报告》（The Africa Report，法国）

Akram Torki 表示，阿尔及利亚人正被“自封的‘道德警察’”摆布。原教旨主义伊玛目和社会媒体上的挑衅者在今年夏天发起了一波“煽动性言论”，攻击那些——主要是女性——从事他们认为“与伊斯兰教不相容”活动的人。这些极端分子呼吁建立一个沙特风格的风纪部队，以监管那些在没有男性监护人的情况下出门的女孩。他们谴责国际瑜伽日是不符合伊斯兰教的舶来品，甚至庆祝一家孤儿院火灾中 11 名儿童的死亡，因为这些孩子“出生于非婚关系”。7 月中旬公布高中毕业考试结果时，“同样的自封传教士”坚持认为，祝贺一名少女考试成绩优异是异端行为。电视上出现的一位“欣喜地拥抱女儿”的父亲甚至被“贴上了变态的标签”。这种情况何时才会结束？萨拉菲主义（Salafism，逊尼派伊斯兰教中的一种清教徒运动）自 20 世纪 90 年代的内战以来一直在兴起，那场内战以武装伊斯兰分子以放弃暴力换取特赦而告终。当局一直容忍萨拉菲主义的言论，因为他们不想挑起宗教暴力。但阿尔及利亚法律禁止歧视和仇恨言论，而这些极端分子两者都触犯了。为什么以“宗教之名”说话能提供某种程度的豁免权？

国际足联：足球界亲特朗普的霸主即将落幕？萨明德拉·昆蒂（Samindra Kunti）在《印度时报》中表示，詹尼·因凡蒂诺（Gianni Infantino）终于做得太过分了。作为足球界非营利全球管理机构国际足联（FIFA）的主席，他长期以来一直被“自己的贪婪所蒙蔽”。由于其奖金与国际足联的收入挂钩，他不知疲倦地追求扩张，将其年度总薪酬提高至约 600万美元。为了在最近一届世界杯中“迎合财务利益”，他向特朗普总统献媚，甚至向其颁发了一个荒谬的和平奖。直到现在，他通过在 211 个成员协会之间分发发展基金以确保他们的支持，从而逃避了对其行为的追责。但上周，当他宣布计划将价值 42 亿美元 billion、占比 20% 的赛事权利份额“贱卖”给私募股权集团时，他的这个“淫秽计划适得其反”。他的一名高级助手当场辞职，欧洲、北美、中美洲和亚洲的区域足球机构迅速拒绝了该提案。欧洲足球协会联盟（UEFA）——其球队赢得了过去六届世界杯中的五届——威胁要完全抵制国际足联。面对这一“核选项”，因凡蒂诺退缩并撤回了提案。现在他面临着要求其辞职的呼吁。约翰·卡林（John Carlin）在《克拉林报》（阿根廷）中写道，如果说足球是世界的宗教，那么因凡蒂诺就是其教皇——而且他显然认为“自己是不可错的”。在特朗普的要求下，他竟然通过撤销一名美国球员的红牌禁赛来干预世界杯的比赛进程。当这引起全球抗议时，他将批评者斥为“被仇恨和批评所吞噬”。但他与美国总统的关系使他蒙垢。因凡蒂诺被“特朗普追求利润的本能所腐蚀”，他忘记了这项美丽的运动“不是一种产品，而是一种激情”。罗布·德雷珀（Rob Draper）在《卫报》（英国）中表示，这个失败的私募股权计划“处处都有特朗普指手画脚的痕迹”。拟收购该份额的投资基金由乔什·库什纳（Josh Kushner）管理，他是特朗普女婿贾里德·库什纳（Jared Kushner）的兄弟，库什纳家族与特朗普家族在商业上紧密绑定。正如批评者所指出的，库什纳家族持有的 20% 少数股权“实际上”将成为“控股权”，因为因凡蒂诺很可能会对特朗普家族想要的任何事情予以批准。阿吉特·维杰库马尔（Ajit Vijaykumar）在《国民报》（阿拉伯联合酋长国）中表示，这些不体面的局面让因凡蒂诺陷入了“生死存亡的斗争”。但他还没有完蛋。自 2016, 接管国际足联以来，他两次在没有竞争对手的情况下赢得连任，明年他仍可能赢得第三个也是最后一个完整任期。毕竟，“利润丰厚”的 2026 世界杯带来了创纪录的 150 亿美元 billion，为“许多小型协会提供了财务支持”。非洲和亚洲的许多国家队觉得他们欠他“坚定不移的支持”。然而，巴特·祖德瓦特（Bart Zuidervaart）在《特鲁》（荷兰）中表示，现在足球界内部出现了一场反对因凡蒂诺的“起义”。国际足联首席运营官凯文·拉穆尔（Kevin Lamour）谴责了他的老板，称他误导了员工，且将赛事私有化的计划——这本可以将因凡蒂诺的个人年收入提高至约 4000万美元 a year——是一个“单人项目”。目前，如果因凡蒂诺能撑到明年任期结束，他很可能会被罢免。对他领导能力的“信任缺失”看来已无法弥补。

THE WEEK August 14, 2026 Getty --- Best Columns: Europe NEWS 15

欧洲火灾：适应能力的缺失

“来自法国和西班牙的画面简直是噩梦，”埃琳娜·埃尔德曼（Elena Erdmann）和本雅·泽尔（Benja Zehr）在《时代周报》（Die Zeit，德国）中写道。“橙色的天空，海滩上巨大的烟雾团，度假者在火焰中逃离。”在法国大西洋沿岸波尔多附近横扫乡村的吉龙德大火（Gironde Fire），烧毁了超过 160 平方英里的区域。这是法国有记录以来规模最大的山火，也是首次产生“火云”——即由火焰引发的雷暴，能将纵火之风吹向距离火线数英里之远的地方。欧洲的消防员从未针对这种现象进行过训练。在西班牙，火焰向马德里蔓延的速度超过了消防队的跟进速度，迫使政府宣布进入国家紧急状态。数十万人不得不撤离，留下了宠物和财产。葡萄牙、希腊、意大利甚至德国也发生了更多火灾。由于春季多雨而夏季干旱，整个大陆都成了干燥的tinder（易燃物）：春季的强降雨滋养了茂密的草丛和灌木，而随后的连续热浪又将其烤得干脆。随着地球变暖，这种火灾之夏将成为我们的“新常态”。《世界报》（Le Monde，法国）在一篇社论中表示，今年必须成为“转折点”，让我们最终改变方式。由于欧洲是变暖最快的大陆，火灾季只会变得更糟。然而，我们继续在缺乏准备、缺乏足够空中支援的情况下，将消防员送入这些大火之中。在法国的消防机队中，12 架 Canadair “超级 scooper”灭火机中，今年竟然有 7 架“停止服务”，尽管飞行员曾警告称每架飞机都将派上用场。难怪在法国吉龙德大火中，已有数十名消防员受伤，数人丧生。斯特凡·博特尔斯巴赫（Stefan Beutelsbacher）在《世界报》（Die Welt，德国）中表示，购买更多飞机仅仅是开始。我们还应该“疏伐茂密森林并创建防火带”。但我们的政治家——甚至是所谓的环保主义绿党——宁愿痴迷于一些小众问题。在今年的火灾季临近时，欧洲议会竟然不屑于讨论准备工作，而是在忙于争论“植物基肉类替代品是否允许被称为素食汉堡”。弗朗西斯科·马丁·阿斯卡拉特（Francisco Martín Azcárate）在《国家报》（El País，西班牙）中表示，没有所谓的“灵丹妙药”。欧洲曾经是由管理良好的农田组成的拼图，牲畜会吃掉所有可燃物。但随着城市化，我们放弃了乡村并重新造林，通过将房屋安置在树林之间，增加了我们的“风险暴露”。芭芭拉·德布舍尔（Barbara Debusschere）在《明日报》（De Morgen，比利时）中表示，这是不可原谅的。如果情报部门警告我们恐怖分子正在策划袭击，而我们的领导人毫无作为，“我们将愤怒至极”，并用“焦油和羽毛”将他们赶走。然而，科学家在几十年前就警告我们，如果我们继续燃烧化石燃料，将会看到诸如“数千人死于高温”和“电网崩溃”之类的头条新闻，而我们现在就在这里，却没做任何事情来防止它。我们不应该将一个救援队发现“游客的焦尸”或发现老年人“死在闷热公寓中”的世界常态化，但我们已经这样做了。“这个闷热夏天最令人心寒的是愤怒的缺失。”我们之所以处于这种境地，是因为领导人的“刑事过失”——我们会让他们承担责任吗？

卢森堡

中国进入欧洲的秘密之门

杰雷米·巴鲁赫（Jérémie Baruch）和马农·罗曼（Manon Romain） 《世界报》（Le Monde，法国）

乌克兰

我们的人在波兰面临风险

阿纳托利·马尔蒂诺夫斯基（Anatoliy Martynovsky），《欧洲真理报》（Evropeiska Pravda）

热雷米·巴鲁克（Jérémie Baruch）和马农·罗曼（Manon Romain）表示，中国正将卢森堡作为渗透欧洲的“特洛伊木马”。超过120家总部位于卢森堡的公司实际上由中国政府控制，它们花费数百亿美元在欧洲其他地区收购企业，包括“领先的技术公司和战略房地产”。Linxens是一家生产非接触式支付和生物识别护照组件的“法国技术瑰宝”，该公司被一家“神秘的卢森堡公司”收购，而这家公司是在交易前刚刚成立且“仅有一个邮政信箱”的机构。如果你追踪一条“复杂的股东链”，就能发现由北京控制的紫光集团（Tsinghua Unigroup）。与此同时，一个由中国人民银行监管的主权财富基金利用一个“由卢森堡壳公司组成的网络，且所有公司都位于同一地址”，积累了包括阿姆斯特丹的一家五星级酒店以及两栋位于布鲁塞尔的建筑（其中容纳了比利时警方和几个欧盟机构）在内的资产。该基金还持有从渡轮服务、天然气公司到金融市场结算所等各类资产的股份。中国坚称这只是“精明的商业行为”。但北京作为“欧洲心脏地带战略机构的房东”，其带来的“间谍风险”是不容否认的。

阿纳托利·马尔蒂诺夫斯基表示，乌克兰总是被教导要维护“欧洲价值观”。在我们努力加入欧盟的过程中，我们被告知必须更好地尊重少数群体权利。为什么欧盟成员国波兰没有被要求遵守这一标准？波兰约有250万乌克兰人，其中包括在2022年俄罗斯入侵后寻求“临时保护”的约150万人。这些同胞现在正遭受着“强烈的排外浪潮”。就在上周，三名波兰人在弗罗茨瓦夫殴打了一名年轻人及其女友，仅仅是因为他们说话带有乌克兰口音，而这仅仅是今年近200起此类案件中的一起。我们可以部分地将此归咎于波兰总统卡罗尔·纳夫罗茨基（Karol Nawrocki），他最近因二战历史争议剥夺了弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基的波兰最高国家荣誉，从而助长了反乌克兰的激进化情绪。即使是坚定支持向乌克兰提供军事援助的亲欧总理唐纳德·图斯克（Donald Tusk），在应对国内种族偏见方面也“行动迟缓”。当波兰警方进行逮捕时，定罪率很低且处罚轻微。布鲁塞尔必须提醒波兰领导人，根据欧盟宪章，他们有责任根除这种猖獗的“恐乌症”。袭击者并非唯一应该受到惩罚的人，“煽动仇恨的政治家和官员”同样如此。

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 16 新闻 # 议题

值得关注 ■ 政治人物在公开场合使用脏话的现象正在增加。自1919年以来，总统、副总统及主要总统候选人使用激烈语言的案例共有692起，其中除87起外，其余均发生在过去十年中。特朗普总统和前总统乔·拜登占据了近期脏话使用量的78%，不过特朗普的措辞比拜登激烈得多，而拜登更倾向于使用“damn”。Axios ■ 根据联邦数据，现在每天或几乎每天使用大麻的美国人多于使用酒精的人。约2140万美国人每年使用大麻至少300天，比2021年增长了21%。同期，每天或几乎每天饮酒的美国人数下降了24%，至1720万。纽约邮报 ■ 美国移民与海关执法局（ICE）7月份因涉嫌违反移民法拘留了超过4.6万,000人，创下新的单月纪录。2月，在联邦特工于明尼苏达州的移民打击行动中导致两名美国公民死亡并引发政治反弹后，逮捕人数下降了近8,000人。拘留人数从5月起再次大幅上升。CBSNews.com ■ 随着每年发射的火箭数量增加，更多的太空碎片正向地球坠落。美国太空军去年发出了近820件太空垃圾重新进入大气层的警报，而十年前这一数字仅为110件。2024年，一块国际空间站的废弃碎片撞进了一栋佛罗里达州的住宅。《纽约时报》

腐败：一场获利丰厚的总统任期

在第二个特朗普政府中，“贿赂之风之盛前所未见”，丹尼尔·W·德雷兹纳（Daniel W. Drezner）在其 Substack 通讯中如此写道。《华尔街日报》上周的一篇报道揭露了特朗普总统腐败的惊人规模，详细阐述了自重返办公室以来，他如何从公司和捐赠者那里榨取了超过 8亿美元。特朗普的首席筹款人梅雷迪思·奥鲁克（Meredith O'Rourke）——被他昵称为“黑暗公主”——会根据总统的命令给公司打电话并表示：“老板想要这笔钱。”奥鲁克取得了成效：软银（SoftBank）为特朗普的总统图书馆提供了 5000万美元，苹果公司（Apple）为他的白宫舞厅提供了 2500万美元，Meta 为一家与特朗普结盟的非营利组织提供了 1000万美元。捐赠者明白，此类投资可能会让他们获得更优惠的待遇。上个月，在一家比利时钻石集团赠送他一枚刻有两个大钻石 T 字的 18 克金戒指后，特朗普在几周内就为天然钻石续签了关税豁免。而所有这些贪腐行为，是在特朗普仅在 2025 年就通过“各种敲诈和骗局”（包括加密货币计划以及与阿拉伯暴君的房地产交易）赚得 22 亿美元 billion 的基础上增加的。《华盛顿检查者报》（Washington Examiner）在一篇社论中表示，特朗普家族即将攫取更多利益。其媒体 venture 上周推出了 Truth API，每月最高收费 $10万,000，将为订阅者提供

比其他人快几毫秒的总统 Truth Social 帖子访问权限。利用能够提前获知影响市场的信息进行交易可以产生巨额利润——2025 年 4 月特朗普的一篇“宣布暂停关税”的帖子导致标准普尔 500 指数飙升 9.5%——对冲基金和金融机构可能会为此服务付费，哪怕仅仅是为了在与其他交易者的竞争中保持竞争力。《布尔沃克》（The Bulwark）的吉姆·斯威夫特（Jim Swift）表示：“整个概念之腐败，简直让人难以想象。”特朗普正在为本应免费提供给美国人的政府行动信息收费。“这是纯粹的寻租行为。”詹姆斯·道尼（James Downie）在 MS.now 中表示，打击特朗普的腐败应该是民主党在期中选举中的一个制胜信息。上周一项 CNN / SSRS 民调发现，近三分之二的美国人认为特朗普在“追求个人商业利益”方面“走得太远了”。但半数选民（包括三分之二的独立人士）认为没有任何一个政党在打击华盛顿的腐败。在经历了十年的特朗普式骗局后，民主党可能会觉得这些数字“令人费解”。但公众的沮丧是可以理解的：国会几十年来没有通过一项重大的伦理改革，而国会议员股票交易禁令“在民主党和共和党控制的国会中一直处于停滞状态”。民主党可以将特朗普的贪腐变成一个定义选举的关键问题——但随后他们必须采取行动。

共和党：“绝不支持万斯者”的崛起

娜塔莉·艾莉森在《华盛顿邮报》中表示，针对 JD 万斯的“刀光剑影”已经出现。随着这位副总统准备在 2028 年极有可能竞选白宫之位，他正面临着来自自称“绝不支持万斯”（Never Vance）的共和党人的日益猛烈的攻击，这些攻击既出现在网络上，也出现在评论版面中。包括本·夏皮罗和马克·莱文等知名评论员在内的亲以色列保守派声称，民粹主义者万斯“不适合”担任最高职务，因为据报道他反对伊朗战争，且在与德黑兰的和平谈判中“显得软弱”。而鲁珀特·默多克旗下的《华尔街日报》——传统保守主义的发声渠道——的专栏作家则猛烈抨击万斯对自由市场资本主义持怀疑态度，并呼应“反以色列的左翼”。

迈克·扎普勒在 Axios 中表示，万斯的盟友声称，这位副总统很高兴能赢得“前特朗普时代共和党建制派”的敌意。但这种敌意的规模表明，他作为特朗普继任者的加冕并非板上钉钉，且共和党内许多人更倾向于由国务卿马尔科·鲁比奥在 2028 年担任提名人。

布雷特·斯蒂芬斯在《纽约时报》中表示，反万斯运动是可以理解的，因为他“绝对是迄今为止担任副总统最糟糕的人”。看看他最近在乔·罗根播客上的表现：他阴谋论地谈论外星人，并在没有证据的情况下声称杰弗里·爱泼斯坦可能是摩萨德的特工，且以色列正试图“操纵”美国公众舆论以维持伊朗战争。作为一个“幼稚且阴险的机会主义者”，万斯可能并不相信这些胡言乱语，但他知道 MAGA 选民基础仍然会对此深信不疑。

同样在《纽约时报》中，罗斯·多萨特表示，如果在 '28 年必须在万斯和鲁比奥之间做出选择，我会选择万斯。这位副总统至少尝试让美国脱离伊朗的泥潭，而鲁比奥则一直表现出“回避的姿态，让其他官员承担风险去主导战争或寻求和平，而他自己则保持选择余地”。

凯西·吉尔西南在 Politico 中表示，这场斗争不仅仅关乎万斯。共和党中较为传统的派系越来越担心“党内崛起的一代年轻工作人员”，其中许多人似乎很乐于发表反犹太主义和种族主义言论，且对共和党的历史纲领毫无忠诚之感。如果去年将一个种族主义青年共和党群聊内容斥为“前卫玩笑”的万斯在 2028 年成为共和党的火炬手，那么这就提出了一个问题：他究竟会欢迎谁加入这个阵营，“以及他们一旦获得权力后究竟会用它来做什么”。

THE WEEK August 14, 2026 AP Photo --- Talking Points NEWS 17

福奇：共和党的新冠替罪羊

新冠疫情导致超过 110 万 美国人死亡。但威尔·萨莱坦（Will Saletan）在《堡垒》（The Bulwark）中表示，在已成为共和党教条的“扭曲叙事”中，“反派不是特朗普，不是中国，甚至不是病毒，而是安东尼·福奇（Anthony Fauci）”。在上周的一次参议院委员会听证会上，共和党人对福奇进行了妖魔化和诽谤。福奇现已退休，曾任国家过敏和传染病研究所所长，在包括罗纳德·里根在内的七任总统任期内为公众服务。尽管研究已将病毒的可能起源追溯到武汉海鲜市场的动物，但几位参议员暗示福奇帮助中国在实验室中制造了该病毒。众议员安娜·保利娜·卢娜（Anna Paulina Luna）将福奇比作纳粹医生约瑟夫·门格勒（Josef Mengele）。参议员罗恩·约翰逊（Ron Johnson）荒谬地暗示新冠疫苗是导致数百万美国人死亡的“实验性基因疗法”。福奇拒绝回答问题，理由是委员会主席兰德·保罗（Rand Paul）誓言要利用他的证词将其投入监狱。

为什么要进行这场政治迫害？对于特朗普领导的共和党来说，“必须有人为疫情中的失误负责，而这个人不能是该党的‘神王’”。梅根·麦卡德尔（Megan McArdle）在《华盛顿邮报》中表示，福奇和其他卫生官员确实犯过错误。关于佩戴口罩的信息传递混乱，学校关闭的时间也比必要的要长。但公共卫生专家在“一场前所未有的灾难中尽了最大努力”。我们需要的是像应对以往国家危机那样进行“系统性的、非党派的且非惩罚性的调查”，而不是一场旨在让我们在面对下一次疫情时准备得更不足的、心怀恶意的“甩锅游戏”。

莫莉·奥姆斯特德（Molly Olmstead）在《石板》（Slate）中表示，真正“搞砸”疫情的官员是当时的最高负责人——唐纳德·J·特朗普。但由于共和党在 11 月可能“惨败”，他们正将福奇当作一个“bogeyman”（用来吓人的怪物）作为工具，以分散注意力并激励他们分裂的基层支持者。尼克·卡托吉奥（Nick Catoggio）在《派遣》（The Dispatch）中表示，作为福奇和科学的替代方案，特朗普及其民粹主义盟友提供的是“巫医疯子”。卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）本周否认救了数百万人性命的新冠疫苗“利大于弊”，并声称在疫情高峰期，包括纽约在内的全国各地的 ICU 都是“空的”。共和党人并没有认真尝试探索“新冠疫情中出了什么问题”，而是向我们提供古怪的阴谋论、像伊维菌素（ivermectin）这样的江湖骗术神药，以及一些“大脑里有虫子——字面意义上的”伪专家。

性教育：让青少年怀孕回归？吉尔·菲利波维奇（Jill Filipovic）在《石板》（Slate）杂志中表示，特朗普政府正在回收那套失败的论调，即青少年应当禁欲，并敦促他们“放弃避孕，结婚，并围绕生孩子来规划生活”。美国卫生与公众服务部（HHS）最近取消了由运行数十年的“预防青少年怀孕计划”（TPP）提供的 53 项（共 67 项）资助，总额达 $6800 万。联邦政府现在将仅向那些强调生育而非避孕、将避孕药和激素避孕手段错误地描述为危险、并敦促青少年为结婚和为人父母做准备的性教育组织提供资助。新指南禁止任何“鼓励、使未成年人进行性活动正常化或推广此类活动的内容”。自 TPP 于 2010 年启动以来，15 至 19 岁人群的出生率下降了 65% 以上，去年达到了每 1,000 人中 11.7 births 的历史低点。现在，HHS 正在“从那些使青少年怀孕率骤降的项目中抽走资金，将其投入到那些告诉青少年‘实际上，繁衍才是目标’的项目中”。但迈克尔·J·纽（Michael J. New）在《国家评论》（National Review）中表示，青少年出生率自 1990 年代以来一直在下降，远在 TPP 之前。在特朗普的第一任期内，HHS 曾试图将资助重点转向禁欲教育，但受资助者提起诉讼并保留了资金。他们现在再次这么做，而“保守派应该希望”特朗普这次能更成功。凯特·罗森菲尔德（Kat Rosenfield）在《自由新闻》（The Free Press）中表示，性教育的目的已经改变。在非计划怀孕和性传播疾病更普遍的时代，预防这些是“合理且恰当”的目标。但与前几代人相比，“在一个年轻人几乎不进行性行为的世界里”，这已不再具有太大意义。丹妮尔·汉（Danielle Han）在《Jezebel》中表示，新的性教育政策纯粹是政治性的。“消除综合性教育是‘2025计划’的目标之一”，该计划是特朗普第二任期的蓝图。反堕胎活动人士试图“通过改变课程来使堕胎污名化”，并教导年轻人生命始于受精。丽莎·尼德姆（Lisa Needham）在《Daily Kos》中表示，合法堕胎、避孕和综合性教育帮助青少年怀孕率达到了这一历史低点。但“保守派的怪胎们实际上对青少年出生率下降感到难过”。他们的目标是促进人口增长——“好吧，是促进白人的人口增长，这才是令人厌恶的‘亲生育’运动的真实目的”。在特朗普领导下，性教育现在相当于在说“请让更多青少年怀孕”。

机智与智慧

“政治家几乎可以原谅任何形式的虐待；他们可以原谅颠覆、革命、被反驳、被揭穿谎言，甚至被嘲笑，但他们永远无法原谅被忽视。” 奥伯伦·沃（Auberon Waugh），引自《菲律宾每日询问者报》

“当人们问我是否上过电影学院时，我告诉他们：‘没有，我上的是电影。’” 昆汀·塔伦蒂诺（Quentin Tarantino），引自《知识》（The Knowledge）

“要在生活中取得成功，你需要三样东西：愿望之骨（wishbone）、脊梁骨（backbone）和幽默感（funny bone）。” 蕾芭·麦肯泰尔（Reba McEntire），引自《好管家》（Good Housekeeping）

“如果在每个美国人的心中，有一个原则比其他任何原则都根深蒂固，那就是我们不应与征服有任何关系。” 托马斯·杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson），引自《Commonplace》

“每个 16 岁的聪明男孩都是社会主义者。在那个年纪，人们看不见那相当乏味的诱饵上钩出的鱼钩。” 乔治·奥威尔（George Orwell），引自《西北阿肯色民主报》（Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette）

“美国拥有金钱能买到的最好的政治家。” 威尔·罗杰斯（Will Rogers），引自《Moneywise》

“如果你想快乐一年，就结婚。如果你想快乐十年，就养一只狗。” 玛莎·斯图尔特（Martha Stewart），引自《Veranda》

民调观察 ■ 73% 的美国人表示，特朗普总统没有“足够关注国家最重要的问题”。67% 的人认为特朗普在伊朗的军事决策损害了美国，且 74% 的人表示总统没有赢得或结束战争的明确计划。CNN / SSRS 《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 18 新闻 # 本周精选漫画

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- # 本周精选漫画 新闻 19 欲查看更多政治漫画，请访问：theweek.com / cartoons

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 20 新闻 技术 ## 机器人禁令：为何美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）担心你的 Roomba 机器人是“华盛顿与北京之间日益激烈的技术竞争”中的“最新前线”，史蒂夫·洛尔（Steve Lohr）和吴新云（Xinyun Wu）在《纽约时报》中如此表示。美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）上周表示，将开始限制进口“类人及类动物机器人”，称它们可能充当数据收集的“特洛伊木马”，并在美国人的家中和办公室里进行监视。中国称此举为挑衅，并警告将采取报复措施。中国的生产商在如此大程度上“主导了全球类人机器人产业”，以至于“如果不使用中国制造的组件，几乎不可能制造出具有竞争力的类人机器人”。但先进机器人正变得在“一个日益依赖人工智能的经济体中具有战略重要性”。AI 初创公司目前正在尝试物理智能或具身智能——本质上是具有 AI 能力的机器人——以便让其模型学习物理世界。肖恩·霍利斯特（Sean Hollister）在《The Verge》中表示，流行的家用设备正被卷入这场冲突之中。虽然禁令明确指出了“类人机器人”和“四足机器人”（如机器狗），但它延伸至任何“由软件控制、在地面移动、重量超过 4.4 磅（包括任何底座）、能够感知环境且具有无线连接能力的机器人”。这涵盖了机器人割草机、人行道配送机器人、许多仓库自动化机器——甚至包括 Roomba。是的，这款流行的机器人吸尘器在 1 月被一家中国制造商收购，使其成为了美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）的清理目标。

这些是特洛伊木马吗？杰里米·徐（Jeremy Hsu）在《Ars Technica》中表示，禁令仅涵盖外国制造机器人的新机型，因此客户仍可保留旧款或购买旧版本。而且这在“理论上应鼓励更多美国和外国公司在美国设立制造设施”，美国目前拥有 Agility Robotics、Figure AI 和 Boston Dynamics 等几家快速增长的初创公司。但这并不总是如此。美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）今年早些时候也禁止了中国制造的无人机，但至今尚未激励任何一家“具有竞争力的量产消费级无人机生产商”在美国设厂。托马斯·布莱克（Thomas Black）在《彭博社》中表示，对中国类人机器人的恐惧被极大地夸大了。读完头条新闻，你会以为中国正在打造机器人军队，准备端菜、叠衣服并抢走工作。绝非如此。如今的机器人最擅长处理“可预测、重复性强、大批量”的任务，例如工厂流水线上的喷漆或焊接。即便如此，其效果也时好时坏。同时处理多项任务超出了它们的能力范围，这使得它们在家庭、商店、医院甚至建筑工地中基本没有帮助。在经历了大量炒作后，企业现在意识到了这些局限性。美国工业机器人的订单量已从 2022 年 4.4196万,196 台的峰值下降到去年的 36,766 台。“机器人扩展到日常任务和生活的愿景确实存在。”但我们离那个现实还很遥远。

本周创新

《华尔街日报》的埃莉·戴维斯（Ellie Davis）表示，亚马逊那款无需踏板、无需方向盘的自动驾驶汽车在上周获得了批准，可以开始向乘客收取费用。这款名为 Zoox 的汽车“看起来像个带轮子的烤面包机”，此前一直在拉斯维加斯和旧金山提供免费接送服务，已有超过 50 万名乘客对其进行了测试。美国国家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）的此次批准，是首个授予“缺乏传统控制装置”的自动驾驶车辆的许可。其独特的设计——支持双向行驶——造成了“更多的监管障碍”，因为 NHTSA 的安全标准“是针对有人驾驶汽车而制定的”。根据规定，这些车辆配备的远程操作员必须位于美国境内。特斯拉一直在开发一款类似的双座 Cybercab，该车同样“没有方向盘或踏板”。

字节：科技新动态

■ 数据中心在太空也造成污染

《卫报》的汤姆·珀金斯（Tom Perkins）表示，埃隆·马斯克和杰夫·贝佐斯建设“轨道数据中心”的计划正面临环保人士的新一轮抵制。上个月，三家环保非营利组织——公共雇员环境责任组织（Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility）、地球正义（Earthjustice）和国际暗夜公园协会（DarkSky International）向美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）提交了一项请愿书，要求暂停发放太空数据中心项目的许可证。他们认为这些计划“违反了联邦法律”，因为其潜在影响尚未按照《国家环境政策法》的要求进行评估。科学家们表示，目前“来自卫星的污染”——卫星在退役时会释放黑烟尘、氧化铝和其他金属——以及“火箭在重新进入大气层时燃烧产生的污染”，似乎正在平流层积累，且达到了令人担忧的水平。SpaceX 和蓝色起源（Blue Origin）等公司正竞相增加数千颗卫星以驱动太空中的 AI 数据中心，而对由此产生的后果“知之甚少”。

■ xAI 试图阻止裸体禁令

《CNBC.com》的洛拉·科洛德尼（Lora Kolodny）和乔纳森·范尼安（Jonathan Vanian）报道，一名联邦法官拒绝了埃隆·马斯克要求推翻明尼苏达州一项禁止“裸体”应用程序法律的请求。这项首创的法律于 4 月通过并于本周生效，“旨在打击允许用户生成非自愿性化图像的应用程序和网站，用户每创建一次露骨的深度伪造图像，将被处以 $50万,000 的罚款”。马斯克的 AI 公司 xAI 起诉该州，认为该法律过于“笨拙”且违反了第一修正案。法官保留了法院日后仍可能暂停该法律的可能性。今年 1 月，xAI 因其 Grok AI 聊天机器人允许用户创建并分享真实人物的性化图像而遭到抨击，尽管该公司表示其“严格禁止”此类图像。

■ 数字钱包中的新卡片

《华尔街日报》的达尔文·布朗（Dalvin Brown）表示，银行正试图挑战 Apple Pay 和 PayPal 等数字支付巨头。“在少数但不断增加的网站上”，你可能会在结账时看到 Paze 这个品牌名称。它是 Early Warning Services 的一部分，该公司由包括摩根大通（JPMorgan Chase）和富国银行（Wells Fargo）在内的七家最大银行共同拥有。“该公司更受欢迎的产品是 Zelle，用于在客户账户之间转账。”Paze 的卖点在于它“直接通过银行和信用合作社的移动应用程序运行”。用户无需创建账户，只需“激活钱包以及银行已加载到 Paze 中的合格卡片”即可。银行希望让客户摆脱对苹果公司的依赖，苹果公司去年从美国发卡机构收取的费用约为 7.5亿美元。

THE WEEK August 14, 2026 Getty 2 / 1 --- Health & Science NEWS 21

当每个部落都有自己的语言

据《史密森尼》（Smithsonian）报道，现代人类大约使用 7,500 种语言，从普通话、西班牙语到丰富的原住民语言。虽然这听起来很多，但在几千年前，我们拥有的语言数量可能是现在的 10 倍之多。一项新研究估计，在研究人员称之为语言“黄金时代”的时期，我们曾经使用 2万,000 到 7.5万,000 种不同的语言进行交流。由于大多数古代语言消失得无影无踪，该团队通过分析追溯至 1.2万,000 年前的人口估算和民族志数据，并观察目前的狩猎采集民族（其中每个群体往往都有自己的语言），重建了人类语言的兴衰过程。他们得出结论，在农业普及之前，全世界的人们使用 4,500 到 6,200 种语言；一旦农作物和牲畜被驯化，人口激增，语言也随之倍增。这种多样性在公元前 1000 年到公元 1000 年之间达到顶峰，随后随着扩张的帝国传播其主导语言，通过征服甚至病原体抹去了早先存在的语言。如今，每年大约有四种语言消失，到本世纪末，可能有多达 1,500 种语言会消失。研究人员表示，能够幸存下来的语言可能并非最适应环境的，而仅仅是最幸运的，因为它们被恰好在增长和扩散的人群所使用。“是否有人开发出了某种我们现在几乎无法想象的语言特征？”未参与该研究的遗传学家基亚拉·巴比耶里（Chiara Barbieri）问道，“这简直令人晕头转向。”（左上起：希伯来语、希腊语、普通话、泰米尔语）黑色斑点是黑色素瘤。

鱼类中的传染性癌症

科学家在佛蒙特州与魁北克省边界的一个湖泊中发现了一些令人不安的情况：一种可传播的皮肤癌，在鲶鱼之间传播。在门普弗马戈湖（Lake Mempfremagog）的一次常规普查中，生物学家不断捕获到被油状黑色条纹毁容的褐牛头鲶鱼，这些条纹出现在它们的鳍上、鳃部，甚至涂抹在眼睛上。捕获的鱼中超过四分之一受到了影响。起初，团队怀疑是污染物，随后怀疑是病毒，但测试结果均显示并非如此。最终，他们发现这些病变是黑色素瘤，这很奇怪，因为鲶鱼在泥中挖掘，远离阳光。答案在于遗传学：这些肿瘤与携带它们的鱼类几乎没有相似之处，但彼此之间却高度相似，这表明这些病变是克隆体，源自一种在几代宿主之间跳跃传播的单一癌症。具体传播方式尚不清楚；科学家怀疑鱼类在产卵时可能会用鳍后的尖刺互相划伤。这种传染性癌症——仅在少数其他动物（如狗和蛤蜊）中可见——违背了肿瘤随宿主死亡而消亡的常规规律。“癌症想要生存，”未参与该研究的进化生物学家文森特·林奇（Vincent Lynch）告诉 NPR.org，“它拥有自己的生命。”

切除输卵管？大多数卵巢癌实际上并非始于卵巢。大约 80% 的病例（包括几乎所有致命病例）实际上是输卵管癌，即负责将卵子输送到子宫的纤细管道。《纽约时报》报道称，这一点至关重要，因为卵巢癌是最致命的恶性肿瘤之一。筛查方法通常无法足够早地发现它以产生影响，而当出现腹胀等症状时，癌症通常已经扩散。然而，切除输卵管可以消除 80% 的癌症风险。该手术仅需五分钟，且几乎可以附加在任何腹部手术中，从子宫切除术到疝气修复术均可。美国癌症协会正计划开展一项宣传活动以传播这一消息，但到目前为止，很少有女性意识到这一简单的预防措施。一名肿瘤学家在查看旧记录时发现，她四分之一的癌症患者此前曾接受过手术——如果当时提供了该选项，她们本可以在那时切除输卵管。肿瘤学家 Rebecca Stone 表示，这是“我一生中最关键的发现之一”，它应当成为“标准护理”。

参宿四，参宿四

天文学家长期以来一直怀疑参宿四（Betelgeuse）——位于约 650 光年外、猎户座的红色肩星——可能与一颗伴星耦合，因为天文观测者记录其变暗和变亮的周期已超过 1,000 年。它有一个约 400 天的主周期和另一个约 2,100 天的周期，人们认为较长的周期是由一颗围绕它旋转的伴星引起的。现在，利用位于智利的甚大望远镜，一个研究团队捕捉到了看起来像是第二颗恒星的图像，他们将其命名为参宿四 B。他们之所以能看到它，是因为他们在计算出伴星距离参宿四 A 最远的时间点将望远镜对准了那里，而且 B 最终被证明比预测的更大、更亮。更明确的确认应该会在大约一年后出现，届时伴星将摆动到参宿四 A 的另一侧，但研究人员已经欣喜若狂。巴黎天文台的团队负责人 Miguel Montargés 告诉 Space.com：“这些是科学界最美好的时刻之一，看到了全新的、出乎意料的东西。”

鲸鱼如何睡眠

抹香鲸在自然界最奇怪的姿势之一中打盹：像巨大的垂直原木一样静止地悬浮在水面下，头部有时向上，有时向下指向深海。但它们是如何在不向上漂浮或向侧面漂移的情况下保持这个位置的？据英国《泰晤士报》报道，答案是它们吹气泡。由于头部填充了蜡状的抹香鲸油，鲸鱼天然具有浮力，而且在睡眠时，肺部的空气逐渐膨胀，威胁要将它们漂浮到 轻轻地在水面冒泡。为了抵消这种力量，它们通过喷气孔排出小股气体，调整浮力，直到它们几乎静止地悬浮。苏格兰圣安德鲁斯大学的研究人员通过在 42 头鲸鱼身上安装吸盘标签来做出这一发现，并利用标签记录运动和声音。共同作者 Patrick Miller 表示：“令人特别着迷的是，它们在被认为处于睡眠状态时能够做出这些微小的调整，这对像我们人类这样的陆生哺乳动物来说完全是一个陌生的挑战。”

Cathy O. Shutterstock, Vermont Fish & Wildlife, Getty 《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 22

艺术

评论之评：书籍

本周之书

《法国人：或，我的理论生活》（The Frenchmen: Or, My Life in Theory），作者：艾米莉·埃金（Emily Eakin）（企鹅出版社，35美元）

“人们很容易将《法国人》读作一种赎罪，”戴娜·托托里奇（Dayna Tortorici）在《纽约客》中写道。大约 22 年前，作者艾米莉·埃金在《纽约时报》工作期间，背叛了她青年时代的一种热爱——她批准了一篇关于雅克·德里达（Jacques Derrida）的讣告，而该讣告的标题将这位法国哲学家贬低为“晦涩”。就在十年前，埃金还是后结构主义者的忠实追随者。这群主要由法国男性组成的思想家引发了 20 世纪 80 年代的风潮，导致美国许多顶尖大学的文学系学生盲目重复这样一种观点：所有意义都是偶然的，文字不可信。埃金在哈佛大学本科期间染上了“理论”热，在攻读博士学位时才最终摆脱它。但整个运动难道都是胡言乱语吗？在她引人入胜的新书中，“埃金有力地论证了事实并非如此。”

但这并不意味着埃金对她的研究对象——福柯（Foucault）、德里达和巴特（Barthes）——的缺陷视而不见。劳拉·米勒（Laura Miller）在《Slate》中表示，这些象牙塔里的反叛者有着诸多缺陷。“《法国人》带来的大部分乐趣，源于埃金揭露了那些曾被视为脱离凡尘的丰碑般人物的真面目。”雅克·拉康（Jacques Lacan）、米歇尔·福柯和路易·阿尔都塞（Louis Althusser）都“自恋、傲慢且戏剧化——也就是说，他们非常有法国特色”。在埃金色彩鲜明的人物速写中，“只有罗兰·巴特显得稍微有吸引力一些”。

理论的长期衰落始于埃金加入该阵营前后。1987 年，该领域的一颗明星——出生于比利时的耶鲁大学教授保罗·德曼（Paul de Man）被揭露在二战期间为一家与纳粹有关的报纸撰稿时表达过反犹太主义观点。但尽管埃金厌倦了理论，不要指望她会加入那些依然热衷于将后结构主义贴上“荒诞”标签的左右两派批评者之列。“它教会了我们一种新的思考方式，”她说，“保持怀疑。保持警觉。密切关注。警惕那些伪装成永恒真理的政治主张。”

乔纳森·德比郡（Jonathan Derbyshire）在《金融时报》中提到，正如埃金所详述的，关于理论的争论并未局限于学术界。哲学家艾伦·布鲁姆（Allan Bloom）在《美国精神的封闭》（The Closing of the American Mind）中痛斥绝望的欧洲思想家的影响时，似乎就是针对后结构主义者。这部 1987 年的畅销书至今仍是右翼反对美国大学的核心论据。杰夫·舒伦伯格（Geoff Shullenberger）在《Compact》中表示，埃金并不害怕承认理论的吸引力在于其反主流文化的能量。她以一种“自我讽刺的才情”描写了她年轻时的被洗脑经历。但当她为理论巨擘辩护时，我无法认同他们坚持要求我们剧烈质疑每一个被告知的故事，能帮助我们在当下找回对公共利益的感知。“他们的指令——解构——已经被执行得太忠实，且持续时间太长了。”

本周小说

《著名男性》（Famous Men），作者朱莉·邦廷（Julie Buntin）（Random House 出版，30 美元）

塔贾·伊森（Tajja Isen）在《Defector》中表示，朱莉·邦廷这部“大胆的”第二部小说“建立并随后颠覆了我们对艺术成长叙事的预期”。威廉米娜·“威尔”·迈尔斯（Wilhelmina "Will" Miles）在回顾她 23 岁时与纳撒尼尔（Nathaniel）建立的性关系，后者是一位 62 岁、曾获普利策奖的诗人兼教授，威尔曾希望他能成为自己的导师。尽管此类配对在小说中屡见不鲜，但“威尔与纳撒尼尔之间的动态感觉很新颖，且始终充满电光火石的张力”。两人都在利用对方，同时他们也是“深感孤独的人，培养出了一种真挚的亲密感，这种感觉在亲情、性爱与理智之间——以一种引人入胜且令人不安的方式——徘徊”。利·哈伯（Leigh Haber）在《波士顿环球报》中称，邦廷 2017 年的处女作就赢得了广泛赞誉，而这一次她“超越了自我”。在《著名男性》中，“每一句话都像钻石般精琢”，我们在阅读每一句时都会怀疑，威尔的叙述是否让这段关系听起来比实际情况更健康。这部“卓越的”教养小说在以“罕见的细致和洞察力”处理 #MeToo 运动提出的问题之余，还以“复杂惊悚片的脉动”探讨了野心与性欲的动态关系。

《捕捉恶魔：墨西哥湾沿岸一起关于谋杀、欺骗与不公正的真实故事》（Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast），作者帕梅拉·科洛夫（Pamela Colloff）（Knopf 出版，32 美元）

泰德·科诺弗（Ted Conover）在《纽约时报》中表示：“虽然副标题暗示这是一部真实犯罪作品，但《捕捉恶魔》绝非典型的真实犯罪书籍。”它关注的不是凶手，而是一个告密者：一个名叫保罗·斯卡尔尼克（Paul Skalnik）的骗子。在 1978 年至 1987 年间，他可能创下了一项记录，他通过提供针对狱友的证词，帮助促成了 34 次以上的定罪，并导致四名男子被判处死刑。“问题在于，他的许多、甚至大部分证词似乎是捏造的，而他帮助定罪的人中，有些几乎肯定是没有罪的。”虽然这样一个不寻常的反派让《捕捉恶魔》成为一部“扣人心弦”的读物，但其“对公共政策的影响使其具有重要意义”。克里斯汀·马丁（Kristen Martin）在 NPR.org 上表示，作者帕梅拉·科洛夫（ProPublica 和《纽约时报杂志》的调查记者）聚焦于一起“令人震惊的”佛罗里达州谋杀案。1986 年，当检察官未能让一名杀害 14 岁女性搭车者的男子被判处死刑时，他们转向斯卡尔尼克，试图捏造一起针对该凶手室友的死刑案件。斯卡尔尼克照做了，他报告称狱友吉姆·戴利（Jim Dailey）向他承认曾多次刺杀该女孩。尽管缺乏其他证据，但戴利此后在死囚牢房中度过了近 40 年。科洛夫“对该案件如电影般的讲述，旨在凸显一个更关注确保定罪而非确定真相和实现正义的刑事法律系统可能带来的致命后果”。芭芭拉·斯宾德尔（Barbara Spindel）在《华尔街日报》中表示，虽然阅读戴利的困境令人痛苦，但“科洛夫对斯卡尔尼克的刻画令人不寒而栗”。这个毫无悔意的骗子在犯罪记录中包括性侵儿童，他在去世前从未向科洛夫承认自己曾用虚假证词换取对其自身罪行的宽大处理。事实上，科洛夫认为他仅仅将她视为最新的潜在目标。读者不禁会对这个骗子，以及那个放大其谎言影响的系统产生同样的厌恶。“戴利继续等待执行死刑是不可理喻的。同样令人不安的是，司法系统的失效让他一直留在死囚牢房中。”

《本周》杂志 2026 年 8 月 14 日 Getty 19 --- # 书单 艺术 23

最佳书籍……由大卫·汤姆森推荐

电影评论家兼历史学家大卫·汤姆森（David Thomson）著书超过 25 本，其中包括目前已出到第六版的《新电影传记词典》（The New Biographical Dictionary of Film）。在他最新的著作《突然闪现的光芒》（A Sudden Flicker of Light）中，汤姆森提出，电影实际上一直是一种具有破坏性的文化力量。

《蝗虫之日》（The Day of the Locust），纳撒尼尔·韦斯特（Nathanael West）著 (1939)。韦斯特的小说聚焦于两类群体：梦想进入电影圈的怪胎和投机失败者，以及渴望追逐美国梦的洛杉矶人群。其结果是对一个陷入疯狂的文化以及一座准备燃烧的城市的恐怖刻画。

《最后的大亨》（The Last Tycoon），F. 斯科特·菲茨杰拉德（F. Scott Fitzgerald）著 (1941)。菲茨杰拉德这部未完成的遗作在叙事上并非顶尖，但它极好地展现了一位才华横溢的年轻制作主管是如何管理制片厂的。该角色是以米高梅（MGM）的欧文·萨尔伯格（Irving Thalberg）为原型的，而萨尔伯格从未对作为编剧的菲茨杰拉德留下深刻印象。

《画面》（Picture），莉莉安·罗斯（Lillian Ross）著 (1952)。这是对约翰·休斯顿（John Huston）改编自斯蒂芬·克莱恩（Stephen Crane）内战小说而成的电影《勇气勋章》（The Red Badge of Courage）拍摄现场的报道。当时身为《纽约客》年轻作家的罗斯记录了所有狂妄的炫耀之谈以及休斯顿与制片厂之间的斗争。世人此前从未听闻那些电影大亨如何说话或思考。当这些大亨在冰冷的印刷文字中读到自己的样子时，他们感到惊恐万分。

《鹿园》（The Deer Park），诺曼·梅勒（Norman Mailer）著 (1955)。至今仍是关于爱、欲望、身份、金钱、荣誉、权力、制片人和演员的最佳小说。这部以好莱坞和棕榈泉娱乐地为背景的半自传体小说（roman a clef），讲述了一位战争英雄在考虑是否将自己的生活故事卖给电影公司。

《我的脸让世界看见》（My Face for the World to See），阿尔弗雷德·海耶斯（Alfred Hayes）著 (1958)。一名厌倦的编剧看到一名年轻女子在海滩上准备自杀。他救了她，随后违背了自己理智的天性而爱上了她；她是一个渴望成为演员的女人，将他拖入了她痛苦的狗血剧中。海耶斯在自己的编剧事业上很成功，但从这部小说中可以明显看出，他对这项手艺持有某种轻视。

《黄金时刻》（The Golden Hour），马修·斯佩克托（Matthew Specktor）著 (2025)。马修的父亲弗雷德·斯佩克托（Fred Specktor）自 1950 年代起一直是人才经纪公司 CAA 的顶尖经纪人。这本书是一部文笔优美的回忆录，讲述了在电影的陪伴下成长、参与电影制作，以及尝试在屏幕散发的光芒中引导自己生活的故事。

本周作者

莱拉·斯利马尼（Leila Slimani）

特里·格罗斯（Terry Gross）在 NPR.org 中表示，对于莱拉·斯利马尼来说，小说是处理真相的最佳方式。在凭借 2016 获得龚古尔奖的小说（在美国出版名为《完美保姆》 / The Perfect Nanny）成为文学之星之前，这位法籍摩洛哥作家曾是一名全职记者，并对该形式的局限性感到沮丧。“我想写一种不同类型的

真相——情感的真相，我们人类生存状态的真相，”她说。《完美保姆》重新构建了一个可怕的真实故事：一名保姆在纽约市杀害了她照顾的两名儿童。2017, 斯利马尼开始创作一部基于自己家族历史、跨越数十年的三部曲，并以新小说《我将承受烈火》（I'll Take the Fire）将其完结，书中的角色原型是她的母亲、父亲和她自己。“这部小说，”她说，“写起来非常、非常、非常、非常困难。”

同样值得关注……双重视角

《无名之子》（Son of Nobody），扬·马特尔（Yann Martel）著 (Norton, $30)

《金融时报》的尼兰贾娜·罗伊（Nilanjana Roy）表示，布克奖得主扬·马特尔在 10 年来的首部小说中“为自己设定了一个史诗般的挑战”。他能否创造出一个令人信服的、由古典学者发现的古代史诗诗篇版本？他能否说服读者在由一名普通士兵创作的诗篇与小说中当代主角撰写的脚注之间来回切换？马特尔的野心在很大程度上得到了回报，使得《无名之子》成为“在他《少年派的奇幻漂流》（Life of Pi）之后也许最迷人的小说”。

《As If》，作者 Isabel Waidner (FSG, $18)

达斯汀·伊林沃思（Dustin Illingworth）在《纽约时报》中表示，Isabel Waidner 的所有小说都“充满了宇宙般的困惑和黑色幽默”。她的最新作“发挥了这些优势”。两名看起来像双胞胎的陌生人在伦敦相遇，在感到生活陷入绝境时交换了身份。一人是演员，另一人是家庭男人，他们在交替担任叙述者的同时，“保持着快节奏的推进”。然而，在所有这些喜剧式的误会之中，隐藏着“对中年危机的微妙探讨”。

《Ghost-Eye》，作者 Amitav Ghosh (FSG, $29)

萨姆·萨克斯（Sam Sacks）在《华尔街日报》中表示，“《Ghost-Eye》的奇异之处将让读者保持警觉”。作者 Amitav Ghosh 在介绍了 1960 年代加尔各答一名拥有前世记忆的 3 岁女孩后，“通过揭示这段生活的历史来制造悬念”。但当我们看着一名现代叙述者拼凑这个故事时，Ghosh 将其与“人类的破坏性将被超自然力量制止”这一观念联系起来，使得《Ghost-Eye》看起来像是“一次愿望思维的练习”。

《Air》，作者 Christian Kracht (Liveright, $25)

胡曼·巴雷卡特（Houman Barekat）在《卫报》中表示，“读者在一种全神贯注的困惑状态下体验 Christian Kracht 的新小说”。我们好奇，书中交替出现的两条情节线——一条关于一名失踪的挪威室内设计师，另一条带有神话色彩的中世纪冒险——究竟如何交汇？答案在某种程度上与一个打乱了时间的数据中心有关。“《Air》或许最好被理解为一个寓言——可以说，是一个来自当下的警告。”

约翰·塞尔夫（John Self）在《爱尔兰时报》中表示，对于斯利马尼（Slimani）来说，挑战的一部分在于描写她的父母。她的父亲曾任摩洛哥财政部长，在斯利马尼 12 岁时，他的职业生涯因贪污指控而毁掉，直到他去世后才洗清嫌疑。“一个人应该始终相信，”她说，“这本书会足够美丽，以至于被那些你背叛过的人所接受。”回顾她移居巴黎的青年时代则更加困难。“我认为让我感到悲伤的是，看到我们对未来抱有如此多的幻想，”她说，“我们如此深信民主，深信进步。”现在三部曲完结，斯利马尼还必须接受，即使在小说中，她也无法平息所有关于移民和身份的矛盾情感。尽管如此，她已准备好继续前行。“在生活和文学中，接受‘有些痛苦是无法治愈的’这一想法很重要，”她说。

THE WEEK August 14, 2026 --- 24 ARTS

评论之评：本周艺术与音乐展

费尔菲尔德·波特：众所周知 (Fairfield Porter: What Everyone Knows) 纽约市艺术学生联盟 (Art Students League)，展至 8 月 18 日

《纽约客》的扎卡里·法恩 (Zachary Fine) 表示：“如果你在杂货店看到一幅费尔菲尔德·波特的孤作，你会觉得它非常讨喜但平庸。”波特 (1907–75) 是一位“技术能力有限的画家”，在他创作的高峰期——即 20 世纪 50 年代、60 年代和 70 年代——他“主要描绘海岸风景和客厅”。此外，他画的人物肖像“简直糟糕得滑稽”。但这位继承了芝加哥房地产财富的继承人，在缅因州的一个私人岛屿和纽约州南安普顿的海滨村庄之间往返生活，他使用色彩的方式在之前的或之后的艺术家中都极为罕见。在好友威廉·德·库宁 (Willem de Kooning) 作品的启发下，他开始将每幅风景画或室内画中的色彩视为“即时感觉的包裹”。在几十年来纽约首次举办的大规模回顾展中，他目前的 35 幅画作填满了一个房间，“将他的柠檬绿、奶油黄和牛血红调色盘浓缩成一次明亮且净化灵魂的爆发”。

波特的《岛屿》(Islands) (1968)

《华尔街日报》的布莱恩·P·凯利 (Brian P. Kelly) 表示，“亮点太多，难以一一列举”。但展览的开头和结尾由两幅具有代表性的自画像收尾：第一幅是 1950 年左右创作的“对胆怯的研究”；而后者在约 18 年后创作，展现出他作为一个成功人士的模样，在直视我们时显得平静且自信。在此期间，波特已从一名挣扎的艺术家成长为成功的诗人、画家和艺术评论家，这三种角色相辅相成。毕竟，“诗人与评论家都对平凡之美持有同样的欣赏，他们理解当日常以某种方式被捕捉时，是如何变得非凡的”。波特“将情感与理解合成为一个光辉的整体，他的主题是身边最亲近的人、地点和事物”。通过这样做，“他证明了只要一个人倾向于去凝视，美就存在于那里”。

《纽约评论》的丹·齐亚松 (Dan Chiasson) 表示，波特的画布有时“感觉像是来自海岸冷烤精英阶层秘密迷幻时期的文物”。“笔触有时触之仍觉湿润，像蒸汽一样消散，然后突然爆发出桃色或靛蓝色的狂风。”然而，在色彩的爆发和 WASP（盎格鲁-撒克逊白人新教徒）式的装饰之中，潜藏着更阴暗的脉络。《纱窗门廊》(The Screen Porch) 是一幅 1964 年的大型群体肖像，捕捉了波特的两个女儿、他的妻子安妮 (Anne)，以及诗人詹姆斯·舒勒 (James Schuyler)——舒勒曾与该家庭共同生活 11 年，是波特时断时续的情人。女孩们尴尬地站在坐着的舒勒附近。从右侧，在纱窗门廊之外，因此被“贬至昆虫领域”的安妮正走过来，她的表情“绝非愉悦”。多年来，这幅画一直挂在缅因州的房子里，让认出场景中那种令人心痒难耐的动态的家人感到沮丧。他们将其戏称为“四个丑人”。

Ariana Grande 《Petal》 ★★★★

《纽约时报》的林赛·佐拉兹 (Lindsay Zoladz) 问道：“亚莉安娜·格兰德是否依然热爱成为一名流行巨星？”在《Petal》中，这位 33 岁的演艺圈资深人士放弃了她“标志性的活泼”，并“倾向于一些——

更粗粝、更尖锐，甚至可能带有反派色彩。”一个典型的例子是《Hate That I Made You Love Me》，这似乎是一首“针对她那些最痴迷的粉丝的带刺之歌”，而且几乎预告了格兰德最近宣布打算在短期内淡出公众视野的决定。Pitchfork 的 Aimee Cliff 表示，《Petal》表明格兰德那种“轻盈且无忧无虑”的公众形象一直以来是“一种精心构建的盔甲”。这位三届格莱美奖得主在直言不讳时能展现出才华，比如在《Stay》中，这首歌几乎达到了她职业生涯的高峰。《Thank U, Neet》。不过，这张专辑更多时候听起来像是对过去作品的“温驯重构”，其中《Big Feelings》是 2016 年《Dangerous Woman》的“去牙齿”版本，而《Never Get Over Me》则让人想起 2014 年的《Problem》，只不过像是“被打了麻醉药”。格兰德试图通过在词曲创作上“缺乏紧迫感和精准度”的作品来发表声明。这反而让她显得更加难以捉摸。

Shaboozey 《The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales》 ★★★★

Rolling Stone 的 Jon Dolan 表示，在她的新专辑中，Shaboozey 拒绝仅仅成为“那个写了一首大火酒吧歌曲的家伙”。2024 年，《A Bar Song (Tipsy)》在美国单曲榜上占据榜首长达 19 周，追平了纪录，并在 Spotify 上总共获得了 17.5 亿美元 次播放。现在，这位在弗吉尼亚州长大的 31 岁艺术家在继续将嘻哈元素注入主流乡村音乐的同时，创作了一张概念专辑，讲述了一名警长的女儿在为父亲之死寻求复仇的过程中，爱上了杀父仇人之一的故事。这是一部“包裹在法外之徒史诗中的浪漫剧，非常符合一个擅长类型融合的艺术家的风格”。The Guardian 的 Alexis Petridis 表示，这张包含 20 首曲目的专辑无疑是一次大胆的尝试。其中包含一些“氛围感且具有平克·弗洛伊德风格”的间奏曲，由 Jamie Foxx、Sam Elliott 和 Teyana Taylor 进行推动剧情的旁白。而《Bullets and Blades》则是一首“极其美丽的民谣”，Shaboozey 在与 R&B 明星 Kehlani 合唱时，以一种“阴郁而强大”的力量低吟。虽然他的唱腔在融入嘻哈风格时依然最活跃，但即便在冒险尝试时，他的“命中率”依然很高。

Nick Hakim 《I Can See》 ★★★★

Variety 的 Jem Aswad 表示，Nick Hakim 的第四张专辑是“来自另一个星球的 R&B”。这位常驻纽约市的艺术家继续在“药瘾 R&B”（stoner R&B）的风格中创作，这是 Frank Ocean 和 Dijon 同样涉足的子类型。但即便按照同行的标准，Hakim 也偏好一种“异常朦胧”的声音，其中“人声和乐器在混音中若隐若现，就像从路过的车里传来的音乐或隔壁公寓传来的声音”。这并不意味着音乐难以接近。《Real Here Now》是“你今年能听到的最华丽的 R&B 歌曲之一，简直像是一首来自平行宇宙的 Usher 之歌”。Stereogum 的 Chris DeVille 表示，在这些由 Dijon 和 Bon Iver 制作人 Andrew Sarlo 协助创作的“幽灵般”的歌曲中，声音设计“如此完美，以至于其本身就成了一种乐器”。它们同时唤起人们对“全息图和落灰旧黑胶”的记忆，且由于这些歌曲是 Hakim 在一段长期关系结束之后创作的，因此它们“被一种深沉的忧伤所占据”。尽管如此，Hakim 仍为这些曲目“注入了抚慰人心的优雅”。它们“可能会让你心碎得像一滩水，但也同样可能引导你进入一种超然的平静”。

《本周》杂志 2026 年 8 月 14 日 Fairfield Porter/

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评论之评：电影艺术 25

《瘴气营的青少年性与死》（Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma）

导演：简·舍恩布伦 (Jane Schoenbrun) (R级) 一位酷儿电影制作人重启了一个充满争议的恐怖电影系列。

“绝对没有任何其他人，无论死活，能拍出一部在视觉和感受上都像这样电影的长片，”《IndieWire》的瑞安·拉坦齐奥（Ryan Lattanzio）如此评价。非二元性别跨性别导演、曾执导《我看到了电视荧光》（I Saw the TV Glow）的简·舍恩布伦在继那部广受赞誉的 2024 年作品之后，又带来了一部“经常令人着迷”的电影，它既是对砍杀片的戏仿，又是部分“未来的同性恋经典邪典电影”。

《黑客》（Hacks）的汉娜·艾因宾德（Hannah Einbinder）饰演克里斯（Kris），一名酷儿独立电影制作人，她获得了一个机会，去执导一部 20 世纪 80 年代砍杀系列的重启版，该系列中的大规模杀手具有性别流动特质。但当克里斯决定让原版电影中的“最终女孩”（final girl）出现在重启版中时，随后展开的“迷人且性感”的双人舞将故事推向了一个令人惊讶的方向。

《纽约客》的理查德·布罗迪（Richard Brody）表示，一旦艾因宾德与共同主演吉莉安·安德森（Gillian Anderson）走到一起，这部电影就变成了由艾因宾德作为舍恩布伦替身核心的、“剧本精良”的双人戏，“为两位主演提供了充足的闪光空间”。安德森饰演的比利（Billy）像隐士一样生活，但她幽默且富有洞察力，她帮助克里斯抛弃了性禁忌，而舍恩布伦则同步地编织进虚构的早期《瘴气营》电影中那些“令人愉悦的血腥”场景。

顺便一提，《Variety》的杰西卡·姜（Jessica Kiang）表示，安德森“似乎非常享受她对女同性恋高调坎普风（high-camp）的尝试”。但事实上，这里的每位演员似乎都玩得很开心，即便电影的后半部分“利用砍杀片惯例的荒诞感来探讨一些相当深刻的问题”，特别是关于文化构建的、阻碍女性获得快感的障碍。结果是，这是舍恩布伦“迄今为止最成熟、最具说服力且最俏皮的电影”。

《武士与囚徒》（The Samurai and the Prisoner）

导演：黑泽清 (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) (未分级) 一名被围困的领导者必须解决一系列谋杀案。

《洛杉矶时报》的蒂姆·格里尔森（Tim Grierson）表示，黑泽清新片的“超然、冷静”基调“让人想起另一位黑泽（黑泽明）的作品”。这部电影今年夏天在日本大获成功，《武士与囚徒》与黑泽明的《乱》（Ran）不仅拥有“相同的封建日本背景，而且同样包含了一位年长者对人类通过征服来追求虚荣荣耀的悲观看法”。

那是 1578 年，由本木雅弘（Masahiro Motoki）饰演的一名经验丰富的战士在反抗一名可怕的军阀后，被困在被围攻的城堡中。但黑泽清伟大恐怖电影的粉丝“可能会被这部新片相对克制的手法所困惑”。《好莱坞报道》的乔丹·明策（Jordan Mintzer）表示，他们可能还会被标题所误导。这并非一部武士电影，而是一部“披着封建外衣的精致谋杀谜案”。

在城堡内部，一名身份不明的凶手开始制造受害者，而本木饰演的氏族首领不断向一名囚犯寻求帮助。“这听起来像是绝佳的悬疑封建惊悚片设定——想象一下《利刃出鞘》遇见《蜘蛛之城》。”遗憾的是，发生了四起谋杀案，而故事“每次都陷入同样的剧本重复”。

不过，请保持耐心，因为《Daily Beast》的尼克·沙格（Nick Schager）表示，黑泽清“优雅地编排他的素材”，构建了一出复杂的戏剧，其“心理深度与他最优秀的作品一样丰富”。它“再次肯定了黑泽清作为国际电影界卓越全才的地位。简单来说，他无所不能”。

蜘蛛侠带来的惊喜：好莱坞强势回归

“也许关于电影院死亡的报道被大大夸大了，”《纽约邮报》的 Katcy Stephan 表示。《蜘蛛侠：崭新之日》（Spider-Man: Brand New Day）上周令许多好莱坞观察人士感到惊讶，它在北美取得了创纪录的 3.6亿美元 开画周末成绩，击败了 2019 年的《复仇者联盟 4：终局之战》，并助力该周末全球所有电影的总票房成为历史上最丰厚的一次。《奥德赛》（The Odyssey）在上映第三周，在国内贡献了 5100万美元，全球贡献了 1.36亿美元。再加上同为夏季热门片的《玩具总动员 5》、《穿普拉达的女王 2》和《执念》（Obsession）的贡献，这构成了“记忆中近期最健康的票房年”，电影院的观众人数已恢复至疫情前水平，甚至有所超越。

那么，这部最新的《蜘蛛侠》是如何避免像今年夏天的《超级少女》（Supergirl!）那样陷入困扰电影业的超级英雄疲劳症的？《Puck》的 Scott Mendelson 提出了这个问题。简而言之，“这就是明星效应”。汤姆·赫兰德（Tom Holland）和赞达亚（Zendaya）这对自 2017, 起分别饰演彼得·帕克及其长期女友 MJ 的现实情侣，其人气已共同达到顶峰。与此同时，索尼淡化了该片与日渐衰落的漫威电影宇宙（MCU）的联系，并重点宣传了彼得在前一部《蜘蛛侠》电影中所做的牺牲如何让这段关系经受了极端的考验。

《Variety》的 Rebecca Rubin 和 Brent Lang 表示，多年来，业内观察人士一直认为在流媒体 era, 成长起来的年轻人永远不会接纳电影院的体验。“大家都错了。年轻的观影者正在推动这次回归。”一份来自 Fandango 的最新报告显示，87% 的 Z 世代在过去一年中至少在电影院看过一部电影，而 X 世代为 70%，婴儿潮一代为 58%。随着新的《沙丘》、《复仇者联盟》和《饥饿游戏》系列作品预计在年底上映，2026 年的情况预计将与新冠疫情前时代非常相似，这意味着，“是的，人们重新爱上了银幕”。

THE WEEK August 14, 2026 26 艺术 电视 流媒体 建议

美国奥德赛

《奥德赛》在持续大热之际，不妨重新回顾科恩兄弟对荷马史诗的一次充满美国本土风情的狂放改编——《奥德赛》（O Brother, Where Art Thou?）。乔治·克鲁尼饰演的尤利西斯·麦吉尔逃离了密西西比州的囚犯劳改队，带着被锁在一起的同伴，在一段反英雄的回家旅途中遇到了塞壬、独眼巨人等生物。 点播 $4

《逍遥骑士》（Easy Rider） 在这部定义了 1969 年反主流文化的史诗电影中，垮掉的一代之公路旅行让位于嬉皮士版本。彼得·方达和丹尼斯·霍珀共同主演，饰演两名骑哈雷摩托的长发青年，他们在一次可卡因交易中大赚一笔，随后开启了一场穿越美国灵魂的横跨全国摩托车之旅。 点播 $4

《荒野生存》（Into the Wild） 埃米尔·赫希主演了这部改编自 Jon Krakauer 1996 年非虚构畅销书的作品。他饰演克里斯托弗·麦坎德利斯，一名出身中上阶层的大学毕业生，他抛弃了物质财产，捐掉了积蓄，搭便车前往阿拉斯加，寻找自由和更简单的生活。

《游牧之歌》（Nomadland） 并非所有的旅程都是自愿的。弗朗西斯·麦克多蒙德凭借其令人信服的表演获得了奥斯卡奖，她饰演一名在大衰退期间失去家园和工作的女性，开始在美西的游牧者中开启新生活。 Netflix

《野生》（Wild） 这部对 Cheryl Strayed 2012 年回忆录的强有力且细腻的改编，追踪了她在太平洋屋脊步道艰苦的独自徒步之旅中的磨难与喜悦。瑞茜·威瑟斯彭在饰演 Strayed 时带来了深情的表演。

《旧日之乐》（Old Joy） 凯利·赖卡特的这部简约而美丽的 2006 年剧情片讲述了两名老友在太平洋西北地区的一次公路旅行中，面对彼此人生道路已经分叉的现实。威尔·奥尔登和丹尼尔·伦敦共同主演。 HBO Max

《本周》杂志观影指南

《瑞彻》（Reacher） 任何纽约人都会告诉你，选错地铁车厢可能会带来后果。对于杰克·瑞彻来说，事实的确如此。在这部惊悚剧集 Season 4 的开篇，一名乘客在自杀前将一个硬盘交给了他，将他卷入了一场必须破解的谜团。艾伦·里奇森饰演的这位身材魁梧的前军事警察当然会大打出手，他在躲避追捕的同时，深入挖掘一场似乎由一名腐败的总统竞选人策划的广泛阴谋。 Wednesday, Aug. 12, Prime

《好莱坞犯罪故事：黑帮接管电影业》（Hollywood Crime Story: The Mob Takes Over the Movies） 好莱坞长期以来一直痴迷于黑帮分子，但这种吸引力是双向的。这部三集纪录片探讨了有组织犯罪如何渗透进电影业，并在数十年间掌控该行业。当吉米·卡格尼和爱德华·G·罗宾逊在银幕上扮演黑帮时，现实生活中的歹徒巴格西·西格尔和米奇·科恩则与明星们混在一起，并将制片厂作为非法活动的掩护。 Thursday, Aug. 13, Sundance Now 和 AMC+

《我的辉煌职业》（My Brilliant Career） 《布里杰顿》和《海盗》（Buccaneers）的粉丝们，这部剧是为你们准备的。这是一部基于澳大利亚作家、早期女权主义者迈尔斯·富兰克林 1901 年经典小说的时代浪漫剧。这部六集剧集讲述了西比拉的故事，她是一个倔强的年轻女性，梦想离开澳大利亚农村，成为一名成名的作家。但她的家人打算将她嫁出去，加上一名英俊追求者的到来，使这一目标陷入危机。菲莉帕·东北主演。 Thursday, Aug. 13, Netflix

《俯瞰工程》（Engineering From Above） 这部全新的纪录片系列利用无人机、卫星和航拍照片来审视世界上一些工程和建筑奇迹，涵盖了从古怪到崇高的各类作品。关注点范围从罗马的万神殿、新加坡的超级树公园，到秘鲁安第斯山脉的一座古镇、一座土耳其废弃城堡，以及

一条穿越瑞士阿尔卑斯山的 35 英里长的火车隧道。 Thursday, Aug. 13, at 10 p.m., History Channel

《不要说好运》（Don't Say Good Luck） 轮到桑尼·桑德勒大放异彩了。这位 17 岁的女演员继续证明自己不仅仅是亚当·桑德勒的女儿。她在片中饰演一名青少年，就在她得知母亲癌症复发的同时，获得了高中音乐剧的主角。桑尼得到了包括史蒂夫·布塞米、贝贝·纽沃斯、马克斯·格林菲尔德和梅拉妮·林斯基在内的全明星阵容支持。 Friday, Aug. 14, Netflix

其他亮点

《我的孩子》（A Child of My Own） 一部充满反转的纪录片，重构了一个关于一名墨西哥女性伪造怀孕并采取极端手段完成骗局的轰动故事。 Thursday, Aug. 13, Netflix

《特拉维斯·巴克：比恐惧更响亮》（Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear） Blink-182 的鼓手特拉维斯·巴克在 2008 年的一次飞机失事中严重烧伤并几近死亡。这部纪录片记录了他漫长的康复之路。 Thursday, Aug. 13, Hulu

《猫车》（Helicat） 在这部恐怖片中，一名女性在行驶的露营车中醒来，发现自己感染了一种奇怪的疾病，并被告知她有一个小时的时间去找医生。 Friday, Aug. 14, Shudder

本周推荐

《灯笼》（Lanterns） DC漫画的改编作品记录参差不齐，但这部由克里斯·蒙迪（《真探》）和戴蒙·林德洛夫（《守望者》、《留守之人》）搭档打造的、基于现实且冷峻的“绿灯侠”系列作品，应该会赢得大量粉丝。凯尔·钱德勒饰演哈尔·乔丹，即漫画中持有戒指的星际超级警察，他开始培训一名由亚伦·皮埃尔饰演的接班人。当两人在内布拉斯加州农村调查一起谋杀案时，迹象指向一个新兴的外星威胁。预计内森·菲利安饰演的盖·加德纳（詹姆斯·冈《超人》中的灯侠）也会出现。 Sunday, Aug. 16, at 9 p.m., HBO 和 HBO Max

皮埃尔和钱德勒：新人与老手 THE WEEK August 14, 2026 Meth. HBO --- LEISURE Food & Drink 27

评论家之选：无论在本地还是远方，尽享新英格兰海鲜

马萨诸塞州，登尼斯港卢恩 (Lune Dennis Port, Mass.) “卢恩可能是目前鳕鱼角最好的餐厅，”《波士顿环球报》的德夫拉·费斯特（Devra First）如此评价。而且不仅仅是因为食物。这家餐厅由一对与鳕鱼角有深厚渊源的夫妇于 2024 年开设，占据了一座前加油站，而“我从进入那一刻起就被迷住了”。当你欣赏着格子地板和被刷成“完美鼠尾草绿”的墙壁时，共同所有者夏洛特·福米切拉（Charlotte Formichella）可能会迎接你，你还能瞥见她的丈夫米克（Mick）在小型开放式厨房中监督团队。米克那不断变化的 $145 品鉴菜单“非常有鳕鱼角的特色，汇集了海洋和花园的丰饶”。餐点以汤作为开胃小食开始，例如配有炸姜的黄瓜冷汤。随后是一颗当地牡蛎，可能配以罗勒和绿草莓。接下来可能是芦笋，配上一团奶油奶酪并点缀以腌洋葱。如果你足够幸运，随后可能是卢恩那令人“心醉”的鹅肝塔和配以蚕豆炖菜的油封比目鱼。每晚，米克和他的团队只是将让他们感到兴奋的菜肴端上桌。更棒的是，“在这里感觉非常好”。 主街 587 号 (587 Main St.)

罗德岛州，马图纳克工作室 (Matunuck Atelier Wakefield, R.I.) 当佩里·拉索（Perry Raso）的马图纳克牡蛎吧（Matunuck Oyster Bar）去年被烧毁时，“不仅是海滩边的邻居们前来支持，”卡伦·多伊奇（Karen Deutsch）在《罗德岛月刊》中写道，“整个州的人都来了。”你可以感受到这位餐厅经营者兼牡蛎养殖户在他这家位于内陆约 5 英里、雄心勃勃的新餐厅中所赢得的爱，因为这里大约 200 个座位通常都被填满或接近满员。凭借房间内极具氛围感的灯光和温暖的木质装饰，“有很多吸引眼球的地方”。但重点依然在海鲜上。许多前菜是对海洋生物的“简约诗篇”，例如配有橄榄油、盐和少许埃斯佩莱特辣椒的薄片缟鲭鱼。目前，菜单上的大盘菜肴仍处于完善阶段。虽然配蔬菜的烤金枪鱼看起来很诱人，但“风味不足”。而且尽管自制面食始终保持优秀，但我品尝到的一种 cacio e pepe 酱汁被过度稀释，削弱了佩科里诺奶酪和黑胡椒的辛辣感。至少马图纳克工作室的蓝图是正确的。马图纳克牡蛎吧的成功根植于对社区和海洋的奉献，而“这家餐厅正朝着同样的目标努力”。 旧塔山路 151 号 (151 Old Tower Hill Road)

奥斯汀牡蛎公司 (Austin Oyster Co. Austin) 当你走进奥斯汀牡蛎公司，“你几乎能感受到新英格兰的微风，”《奥斯汀纪事报》的达西·达特韦勒（Darcie Duttweiler）说道。布伦丹·扬西（Brendan Yancy）和德鲁·阿胡马达（Drew Ahumada）的这次新尝试虽然位于一个内陆的德克萨斯州城市，但它“全力致力于”呈现新英格兰沿海的风味。扬西甚至在缅因州的卡斯科湾附近建立了自己的牡蛎养殖场。在餐厅明亮、开阔的空间里，你会想加入到那个“极其热情”的吧台人群中，点一杯咸味马丁尼、一杯蓝片（blue sheet）和一支铅笔。无论你选择什么，很快你将享受到“奥斯汀最精美地剥开的牡蛎”。由于厨房在东南亚料理方面也表现出色，泰式冬阴功蛤蜊是“必点项”，蛤蜊盛在椰奶南姜汤中，配以腌蘑菇和炸干葱。主菜清单“倾向于高级舒适美食”，例如德州和牛汉堡和配有棕色黄油的缅因龙虾卷，而缅因咖喱贻贝则“延续了厨房‘东遇东’的风格”。 东塞萨尔·查韦斯街 2502 号 (2502 E. Cesar Chavez St.)

本周食谱

正如这个 20 分钟即可完成的食谱所证明的，“几种橱柜里的香料就能将简单的食材完全转化为格外特别的佳肴”，丽莎·瓦伦特（Lisa Valente）在《美食与葡萄酒》（Food & Wine）中写道。Egg bhurji 是一种在整个印度都非常受欢迎的炒蛋菜肴，“每一口都充满了温暖、风味和色彩”。开发此特定食谱的主厨马尼特·乔汉（Maneet Chauhan）通过“在酥油中将洋葱、绿辣椒、生姜和大蒜煸炒至出香，然后拌入切碎的番茄和多种香料”来构建风味。最后挤入的柠檬汁平衡了香料的温和辣味。将鸡蛋与印度烤饼（roti）、帕拉塔饼（paratha）或吐司一起食用。

Egg bhurji（印度香料炒蛋）

• 2 汤匙 酥油或黄油
• ½ 杯 洋葱碎
• 2 茶匙 绿辣椒细碎
• 1 茶匙 剥皮新鲜生姜末
• 1 瓣 大蒜细碎
• ½ 杯 番茄碎
• 1 芫荽粉
• ½ 姜黄粉
• ½ 加拉姆马萨拉（garam masala）
• ½ 克什米尔辣椒粉或其他红辣椒粉
• 适量 粗盐
• 4 个 大鸡蛋，轻微打散
• 1 新鲜柠檬汁
• 2 汤匙 新鲜香菜碎，用于装饰

■ 在中号煎锅中，用中火加热酥油。加入洋葱、辣椒、生姜和大蒜，经常搅拌地烹饪，直到洋葱呈半透明状，约 4 分钟。加入番茄和香料，经常搅拌地烹饪，直到香料被烘烤出香气且番茄变软，2 to 3 分钟。 ■ 加入鸡蛋。搅拌至鸡蛋呈软炒状态，约 2 分钟。拌入柠檬汁并立即上桌，撒上香菜碎装饰。 Serves 2.

葡萄酒：名人专区

“副业已经渗透到了酒铺中，”艾米莉·萨拉迪诺（Emily Saladino）在《华盛顿邮报》中写道。无数名人现在通过以自己名字销售的葡萄酒获利，而其中一些产品不出所料地“简直无法饮用”。尽管如此，我还是找到了几款可以推荐的。在此向凯尔·麦克拉克伦（Kyle MacLachlan）、C.J. 麦考勒姆（C.J. McCollum）以及这几瓶酒背后的 3 位名流致敬。

2021 Three by Wade California Chenin Blanc ($23)。这款由篮球巨星德维恩·韦德（Dwayne Wade）推出的入门级白诗南，将“多汁的甜瓜风味”与“余味悠长且充满活力的柠檬味”相结合。

2024 Sun Goddess Pinot Grigio Ramato ($23)。这款由 R&B 传奇人物玛丽·J·布莱杰（Mary J. Blige）与意大利弗留利（Friuli）地区合作推出的铜色葡萄酒，带有核果、柑橘和白茶的味道，其余味“悠长且清新”。

2022 Bledsoe Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon ($55)。“价格昂贵但制作精良，”这款由前 NFL 四分卫德鲁·布莱索（Drew Bledsoe）推出的哥伦比亚谷赤霞珠，具有黑莓、草本、雪松和矿物质的基调，且全部“优雅地分层”。

Rachel Vann THE WEEK August 14, 2026 --- 28 LEISURE Consumer

2026款菲亚特 Topolino：评论家怎么说

《Car and Driver》

“看看这个小家伙：如此有趣的小尺寸包装中凝聚了如此多的个性。”但不要指望菲亚特这款新型低速社区电动车能成为小型 SUV 的替代品。凭借其最高时速 19 英里、功率 8 hp 的电动机以及 46 英里的续航里程，Topolino “与其说是实用的通勤车，不如说是高尔夫球车中的铂金包（Birkin bag）”。不过，它可能会在海滨城镇和度假社区找到买家，而且即将推出的改装套件将把其最高时速提升到“令人眩晕”的 25 英里，使其在许多城镇中心合法上路。

《The Drive》

Topolino 在意大利语中意为“小老鼠”，但菲亚特这款灵活的小车在“设计上毫不逊色”。它“圆润”的形状令人心生愉悦，圆圆的大灯十分可爱，而“符合时代特征”的后行李架将令复古爱好者兴奋。菲亚特还与一家第三方店铺合作，创建定制版本。如果没有这些升级，内饰非常简陋，座椅“装饰性强于舒适性”，仪表盘则是一块黑色塑料板。

Motor Trend

E-Z-Go 和 Club Car 销售的四座合法上路高尔夫球车价格大致相同，而 Topolino 仅能容纳两人。但这款菲亚特车型可以选配全景天窗和能遮风挡雨的车门。此外，它“看起来不像是一辆改装的高尔夫球车（起售价 $1.3995万,995），而更像是一辆真正的意大利小车，其俏皮的细节让即使是短暂的跑腿也感觉像是度假的一部分”。

最佳……猫咪栖息地

CatsJoys Modern

木屋

“如果你想保持廉价和简单，一个普通的旧纸箱就足够了。”但如果风格很重要，可以考虑这个太空时代的隐匿之所，适用于猫或小型犬。$530, etsy.com 来源：NYMag.com

The Purrgola

Purrgola 设计用于安装在窗框内，为室内猫提供了一种“有趣且时尚的方式，让它们能安全地与户外互动”。其房间侧的进入门较为脆弱，但盒子本身由坚固的耐候丙烯酸材质制成。$325, thepurrgola. 来源：Wired

Tuft + Paw Frond 猫树

这款美观且紧凑的猫树上，花瓣状的栖息平台“其实不足以让猫小睡”，但它们“非常适合那些想要在高处俯瞰动态的猫”，且其位置可以更改以保持攀爬的趣味性。$129, tuftandpaw. 来源：The Spruce

Sam's Pets Escher 猫树与公寓

这款对两层猫栖息地的“现代诠释”提供四种木材着色选择。它有两个用于小睡的人造皮草垫和集成式抓柱。$76, samspets. 来源：NYMag.

Mau Cento

Mau Pets 专注于“视觉上极具冲击力的选择，让任何大型宠物店的猫树都相形见绌”。Cento 的巫术风格“并非人人喜爱”，但优质的材料使这棵树“值得其高昂的成本”。$299, maupets. 来源：Wirecutter

本周提示……

四种能让任何花园焕发光彩的植物 绣球花以其像绒球一样的花朵，“总能给人一种奢华且丰盈的感觉”，因此非常适合提升任何花园花床的观感。选择圆锥绣球（Hydrangea paniculata）可以实现“让花园感觉像专业设计般的丰满度和规模”，并确保种植在半阴处。天使喇叭花（Angel trumpet，或称 Brugmansia）是一种昂贵且娇贵的植物，但其“巨大的”悬挂喇叭状花朵是真正的视觉焦点，且在入夜后香气宜人。黑毛蕊（Dark mullein，或称 Verbascum nigrum）“总是看起来很高级”，尤其是如果你选择其白花品种。它拥有 3.5 英尺高的花尖耸立在漂亮的深色叶片之上，能增加花园的高度。它而且价格低廉，甚至很容易从种子开始培育。玫瑰虽然不是万无一失的选择，但具有明显的吸引力。花期较长的品种包括 Iceberg 和 Whiter Shade of Pale。它们所需的维护也相对较少。来源：Real Simple

以及给那些拥有一切的人……

众所周知，管理一个繁忙的家庭是一项挑战，而追踪实地考察、晚餐约会、夏令营报名和就医预约的心理负担通常落在母亲身上。这种负担可以通过 Skylight Calendar 来减轻，这是一个“优雅的、带有颜色编码的触摸屏日历，全家人都可以与之互动”。它不是市场上唯一的专用数字日历，但其特点是提供一项每年 $79 的高级订阅服务，允许你只需通过转发团队日程或电子邮件邀请即可将活动输入日历。它还能将食谱转换为购物清单，链接到你的 Google 日历，并且无论你走到哪里都可以通过应用程序访问。$150 起，myskylight. 来源：Wirecutter

技术支持……优化 CarPlay 的四种方法

自定义主屏幕。 如果您在驾驶时使用 Apple CarPlay，请根据您的需求进行定制。在 iPhone 的“设置”中，进入“通用”，然后选择“”，点击您的车型名称，并点击“自定义”。现在您可以决定哪些应用程序会出现在 的主屏幕上，哪些不会。

使用通知播报。 在手机设置的“Siri”选项下，开启“播报通知”并为相关应用程序启用该功能，然后检查 设置以确保播报已启用。这对于免提驾驶至关重要。

编辑驾驶专注模式。 为了减少干扰，请进入手机的“设置”并点击“驾驶专注”。您可以选择哪些联系人在您行驶时可以联系您，以及哪些人将收到自动回复消息。

共享您的音响系统。 在 上聆听 Apple Music 时，点击 SharePlay 图标，屏幕将弹出二维码，让您的乘客能够为任何公路旅行的配乐添加曲目。

来源：9to5mac.com 《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日

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全世界的女性都在要求获得安全、现代的生殖健康服务。

十分之一的女性无法就避孕药具的使用自行做出决定，全球有 2.57 亿 名女性完全无法获得避孕药具。MSI Reproductive Choices 致力于加速实现避孕药具的普及。我们呼吁资助者、慈善家以及所有关心生殖选择、自由和机会的人士加入我们的这一承诺。

全球普及避孕药具是一个可以实现的目标。

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30

市场最佳房产

本周：犹他州住宅

185万 ◀ Spring City Behunin-Beck 住宅坐落在一个历史悠久的艺术社区，是一栋建于 1883 年的犹他州哥特复兴式石屋，近期经过翻新。这栋三居室住宅拥有一个配备 La Cornue 炉灶的新式水彩风格厨师厨房、一个图书馆、一套全新的 HVAC 系统以及第三间浴室；同时还引入了包括壁纸和配色方案在内的时代细节。超过 1 英亩的地块包括一座翻新的原木小屋、一个马厩、一个车库和一座树屋。 $1,850,000. Carolyn Kirkham, Summit Sotheby's International Realty, (801) 450-0800

2 ▶ 盐湖城

这座建于1926年的法式城堡风格三卧室住宅位于吉尔默公园历史区（Gilmer Park Historic District），距离市中心的圣殿广场（Temple Square）15分钟路程。该房屋于2006年翻新，设有带拱形手绘天花板的客厅、法式门和朱丽叶阳台；两层高的图书馆配有径切橡木内置家具。近1英亩的占地面积内包括一个泳池、庭院、池塘、成熟的树木、石桥以及通往小溪的阶梯。$460万,600,000。Mimi Sinclair, Summit Sotheby's International Realty, (801) 580-6089

3 ◀ 伊登（Eden） 这座位于瓦萨奇山脉（Wasatch Mountains）Powder Haven滑雪社区的2018年现代山地住宅，可实现滑雪进出（ski-in, ski-out）。这栋四卧室住宅带家具，采用开放式布局，设有高侧窗、硬木地板、燃气壁炉，以及包含娱乐区和客房的底层。室外设有桶形桑拿房、热水浴缸和露台；共享设施包括步道、缆车、餐饮设施和湖畔旅馆。$625万,250,000。Brian Williams, Engel & Völkers Park City, (435) 602-0217

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 31

470万 ◀ 艾文斯（Ivins） 这座沙漠现代风格住宅位于犹他州西南部的雪峡谷州立公园（Snow Canyon State Park）旁，背靠凯延塔（Kayenta）地区的红岩峭壁。这座2023年的三卧室住宅拥有能够将山丘尽收眼底的整墙窗户，一个带有软垫长凳和配有葡萄酒冰箱的管家房的淡紫色调厨房，以及一个与节水景观相呼应的绿色zellige瓷砖壁炉周围装饰。近2英亩的占地还设有泳池、水疗中心和露台。$450万,700,000。David Ellis, The Agency St. George, (435) 862-9199

5 ▶ 美国福克（American Fork） 这座2026年的三山墙现代六卧室住宅位于犹他湖（Utah Lake）和廷帕诺戈斯山（Mount Timpanogos）附近，距离普罗沃（Provo）市外20分钟路程。拱形大厅设有从地板到天花板的壁炉和一整墙的玻璃滑动门。厨房包括泪滴形吊灯和完整的储藏室，底层则包含小厨房、电影院、健身房、桑拿房、冷水浴池和台球室。该物业包括一个泳池、休息区和推杆果岭。$4,500,000。Leanna Deherrera, Windermere Real Estate—Utah / Luxury Portfolio International, (801) 688-4060

本周超值房源

6 ◀ 盐湖城 这套两卧室公寓位于Avenues社区的一栋1912年建筑Dorius中，步行即可到达公园、皮克球场和餐厅。该住宅拥有裸露的砖墙、原装硬木地板、顶角线和高天花板，并配有从地板到天花板的壁炉、凸窗，以及一个配备石英台面和不锈钢电器的翻新厨房。客厅通向一个有顶的私人阳台。$38.5万,000。Bobby Vigil, Windermere Real Estate—Utah / Luxury Portfolio International, (801) 455-6550

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 32

新闻 商业 # 新闻快讯

核心要点 ■ 超过 17万,000 名声称被学校欺诈的联邦学生贷款借款人的 110 亿美元 billion 债务即将被免除。此前，一家上诉法院本周支持了借款人，并拒绝了教育部要求增加审查其索赔时间请求。《纽约时报》 ■ 特朗普政府表示，已退还约 1000 亿美元 billion 通过特朗普总统 2025 年“解放日”关税征收的收入。这约占政府称通过这些广泛关税获取的约 1660 亿美元 收入的 60%，而最高法院已裁定这些关税非法。

■ 由于伊朗战争推高了全球油价，埃克森美孚（ExxonMobil）和雪佛龙（Chevron）报告今年第二季度的合计利润为 265 亿美元 。根据研究公司 Wood MacKenzie 的数据，如果原油每桶价格保持在 $90, 以上，石油行业的年度利润预计将超过 4250 亿美元 。 ■ 美国银行首席执行官布莱恩·莫伊尼汉（Brian Moynihan）表示，该公司每年花费超过 2.5亿美元 为员工提供 GLP-1 减肥药物，约占其医疗保健支出的 13%。 ■ 根据家庭研究学院（Institute for Family Studies）对 2,000 名男性的研究，18 至 29 岁的男性中，有四分之一表示他们每天交易股票，其中近三分之二（64%）报告感觉自己是个失败者。十分之七的受访者表示，成功更多取决于你认识谁，而非能力或努力。Bloomberg

货币：美国紧急支持日元

《纽约时报》的埃舍·尼尔森（Eshe Nelson）表示，财政部上周“采取了罕见步骤”来支持一个关键盟友的货币，与东京协调以帮助支撑日元。此次购买日元是在日元近期跌至 1986. 以来兑美元的最低水平之后进行的。这引发了人们的担忧，即日本可能会“出售其持有的大量美国国债中的很大一部分”以资助进一步的经济干预，这将提高美国政府必须为其债务支付的收益率。华盛顿曾在 1998 年干预以支撑日元——并在 2011 年毁灭性的地震和海啸后与日本协调使其贬值——但此次行动更为异常，

财政部长 Scott Bessent 因为其涉及通过出售欧元来为交易提供资金。

《Axios》的尼尔·欧文（Neil Irwin）表示，在“日元干预之下”隐藏着一个更深层的“信息”。“今年夏天，全球金融市场的标题指标一直很稳定。”但这可能是“表面之下”压力增加的迹象，“特别是在全球债务高企之时，长期借贷成本正在上升”。美国长期借贷利率“一直在攀升”，反映出人们对财政赤字和 AI 支出的日益担忧。一位分析师表示，当全球最大的两个经济体共同进入市场时，“他们是在向投资者传递关于全球金融系统的某种信息”。

Uber：一种指责受害者的法律策略？

《纽约时报》的艾米莉·斯蒂尔（Emily Steel）表示，Uber 一直在攻击那些起诉其司机性侵的女性的可信度，经常搜寻她们的“私人通信、医疗记录、治疗笔记和其他来源中的敏感细节”，以便随后在法庭上就此“质询这些女性”。已有超过 4,000 起诉讼被提交给这家网约车公司，指控其未能保护客户免受其签约司机的侵害。诉讼揭露了 Uber 律师的一种“明显模式”，他们甚至就受害者的穿着和行为进行质询。这一策略“与 Uber 自称”是一家“以幸存者为中心”公司的立场相矛盾。

大政府：联邦政府入股另外七家公司

本周，商务部宣布将向七家半导体公司提供 8.74亿美元 的联邦激励资金，以换取每家公司的“少数、非控股股权”，《国会山》（The Hill）的米兰达·纳扎罗（Miranda Nazzaro）报道称。该机构表示，“这些奖金将用于对关键技术和先进集成光子学进行研发”，后者是一种使用光而非电的新型芯片技术。特朗普政府去年还向英特尔提供了 110 亿美元 billion 的联邦补贴，以换取 10% 的股份。

第一资本：特朗普账户被标记为欺诈

第一资本（Capital One）上周表示，由于担心可能存在洗钱行为，该公司在 2021 年关闭了数百个特朗普组织（Trump Organization）的账户，CNN.com 的艾莉森·莫罗（Allison Morrow）报道称。在提交给法院的文件中，该银行表示其发现了触发反洗钱审查的“交易模式”，如果银行标记了可疑活动，法律规定其必须进行此类审查。该银行并未透露发现了什么，但表示关闭账户“并非轻率之举”。特朗普去年在联邦法院起诉了第一资本，指控其出于政治原因将其“除名”（debanked）。

SpaceX：首份财报公布后股价下跌

在埃隆·马斯克的 SpaceX 公司披露其在人工智能方面的支出高于预期后，该公司股价下跌了 13%，彭博社（Bloomberg）的萨娜·帕尚卡尔（Sana Pashankar）和卡门·阿罗约（Carmen Arroyo）报道称。这家尚未盈利的火箭公司发布了自 6 月创纪录的首次公开募股（IPO）以来的首份财报，其营收超出了预期。然而，投资者更担心其在 2026 年上半年在 AI 基础设施上花费的 285 亿美元 billion。目前该股已跌至 IPO 价格远下方，自马斯克成为全球首位万亿富翁以来，其净资产缩水了约 6000 亿美元 billion。

“二手”正流行，看看 Banana Republic 就知道了

一些热门时尚零售商正在接纳二手店心态，《华尔街日报》（The Wall Street Journal）的克拉拉·哈德森（Clara Hudson）报道称。由于厌倦了推出“看似无穷无尽的款式”，且在减轻环境影响的压力下，时尚界开始将二手服装视为吸引客户的新方式。例如，在纽约市 H&M 的 SoHo 店，购物者可以找到一个“复古”区域，里面混杂着从吉米·巴菲特（Jimmy Buffett）T 恤到设计师品牌 Moschino 上衣的各种单品。Banana Republic 最近推出了“Archive”系列，主打 20 世纪 70、80 和 90 年代的“回收”单品；而 Reformation 则设有“preloved”（二手）区域，其中包含“普拉达（Prada）和 Bebe 以及其自有款式”。此举正值时尚品牌面临越来越大的压力，被要求设计“较少追求潮流且更耐用”的产品。例如，法国最近通过立法，对“大量生产廉价服装”的服装公司处以罚款。

THE WEEK August 14, 2026 © 2026 --- Making Money BUSINESS 33

联邦医疗保险 D 部分：取消药物补贴的代价

安娜·怀尔德·马修斯（Anna Wilde Mathews）在《华尔街日报》中表示，数百万已经在与上涨的汽油和食品价格作斗争的美国老年人，很快将不得不支付更高昂的处方药费用。特朗普政府上周宣布，将从明年起取消拜登时代针对联邦医疗保险药物计划（即 D 部分）的补贴计划。该计划今年预计将向保险公司提供 36 亿美元 billion 以“缓解保费上涨”，在 2025 年为 D 部分的 2500 万 enrollees 降低了约 40% 的平均保费。由于该计划被取消，约 75% 的参保者（目前平均每月支付 $36, 保费）将在 2027 年面临更高的账单。

特朗普政府表示，补贴鼓励了保险公司提高费率，因为他们知道政府会买单。联邦医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（CMS）管理员梅赫amet·奥兹（Mehmet Oz）表示，对保险业的这种“救助”已“不再需要”，且政府正与制药公司合作降低药物成本。

《华盛顿邮报》在一篇社论中称：“让这些联邦医疗保险补贴到期是正确的做法。”该计划始于 2024 年乔·拜登总统采取的一项行政行动，未经国会授权。它一直以来都是“针对糟糕政策的临时补丁，而非医疗保健成本的长期解决方案”。补贴并未解决 D 部分保费上涨的原因，而是将更多账单转移给了纳税人。“如果一项医疗政策在成本超出预期时，必须依靠纳税人救助保险公司才能运作，那么问题出在基础政策上，而不是计划中的救助到期。”在这种情况下，D 部分的保费每月可能会上涨 $20。

艾丽丝·海格姆（Aliss Higham）在《新闻周刊》中表示，该补贴一直被设计为临时性的。其目的是在保险公司适应 2022 年《削减通胀法案》的变化时，“限制 D 部分保费的波动和差异”，该法案降低了联邦医疗保险参保者的自付费用，并限制了胰岛素和疫苗的成本。最终，超过一半的补贴资金流向了仅一家公司——联合健康集团（UnitedHealth Group），奥兹称这种情况是“不可接受的”。

米兰达·亚弗（Miranda Yaver）在 MS.now 中表示，这次取消“发生在一个微妙的时机”。中期选举近在咫尺，民主党人正就负担能力问题向共和党人施压。而现在，“美国最可靠的投票群体将收到医疗保健成本上涨的通知”——在大多数情况下，每月增加多达 $20。这听起来可能不多，但对于依靠固定收入生活的老年人来说至关重要。“这一政策转变削弱了特朗普此前表达的对处方药负担能力的承诺”，尤其是因为他的其他努力，如直接面向消费者的药物门户网站 TrumpRx 以及最惠国药物定价，在实际降低成本方面“几乎没有取得进展”。作为一项政治议题，联邦医疗保险“应该是不可触碰的”。特朗普政府正在触碰这根“第三轨”。

专家观点

■ 大学动用自有资金 《华尔街日报》的道格拉斯·贝尔金（Douglas Belkin）表示，陷入困境的大学正在“通过掠夺其捐赠基金来支付账单”。根据 Perspective Data Science 的估计，去年有近 200 所私立大学从受限捐赠基金中借款，而 2021 年这一数字为 131 所。“学校将大部分资金用于日常开支”，通常仅仅是为了维持运转。通常情况下，学校只有在获得捐赠者许可后才能更改受限捐赠的用途。但那些已穷尽其他选择（例如动用非受限捐赠基金）的董事会，也开始“在已故捐赠者提供的受限资金中寻找漏洞”。去年，俄亥俄州总检察长对克利夫兰市外的一所小型天主教学校——圣母学院（Notre Dame College）的 14 名受托人和管理人员提起诉讼，指控他们违背捐赠者意愿使用了超过 $200万的受限资金。

■ 401(k) 之父另有计划 《彭博社》的苏珊娜·伍利（Suzanne Woolley）表示，泰德·本纳（Ted Benna）深知 401(k) 计划存在问题。本纳被“广泛誉为”这种职场退休计划之父，他在 1978 年注意到税法中的一项条款“允许基层员工在税前从工资单中递延资金”。但现年 84 岁的本纳表示，401(k) 已“变得过于复杂且昂贵，且比起其他人，它更多地让富裕的储蓄者受益”。本纳的新解决方案被他称为 Radish。它就像一个“具有税收优势的奖励计划”，公司将资金存入一个专门账户，用于“达到绩效目标（如安全、任职年限或准时交付）的员工”。本纳表示，这将有助于留住员工并激励绩效。

■ 业主协会（HOA）承受压力 《纽约邮报》的劳伦·埃尔基斯·施拉姆（Lauren Elkies Schram）表示，全美各地的业主协会在追讨欠缴会费方面正变得更加激进。过去两年中，HOA 的止赎案件增加了 40%，超过了抵押贷款止赎的增速，导致协会对欠费居民采取更严厉的打击措施。由于面临“人员配置、草坪护理和建筑材料成本上涨”，这些协会正处于“资金和耐心双双耗尽”的状态。覆盖 HOA 共用财产和一般责任的主保险保费在近年来也大幅飙升，且许多董事会面临压力，必须“满足更严格的安全措施”，这些措施是在 2021 年佛罗里达州瑟夫赛德（Surfside）公寓坍塌事件后制定的，这可能会引发大额的专项评估费用。

本周慈善

前一年级教师阿尔文·厄比（Alvin Irby）认为，理发店是黑人小男孩完美的阅读环境。2013 年，厄比看到一名学生在等待理发时感到无聊且焦虑，且没有书可读，于是产生了创办 Barbershop Books (barbershopbooks.org) 的想法。他突然意识到为什么 83% 的黑人四年级学生不精通阅读：他们在学校和家中缺乏足够的阅读榜样。意识到理发店在黑人社区中的文化重要性，厄比的组织此后在美国约 250 家理发店提供了超过 5万,000 本免费、具有启发性且幽默的儿童书籍，旨在面向黑人年轻受众，同时培训理发师鼓励孩子们为了乐趣而阅读。Barbershop Books 最近还推出了“Reading So Lit Summer”，这是一个由高中生授课的为期两周的虚拟项目，旨在鼓励更多男孩为了乐趣而阅读。我们介绍的每个慈善机构都获得了 Charity Navigator 的四星综合评级，该机构根据非营利组织的财务实力、治理实践和运营透明度进行评级。四星是该机构的最高评级。

THE WEEK 2026年8月14日 --- 34 商业 最佳专栏：商业

对冲基金：AI“神童”的陨落

《纽约时报》的罗布·科普兰（Rob Copeland）表示，这位“AI预言家”没能预见到这一结果。直到最近，24岁的利奥波德·阿申布伦纳（Leopold Aschenbrenner）还是硅谷的偶像级超级巨星——他曾是OpenAI的研究员，其名为“情境意识”（Situational Awareness）的大胆对冲基金几乎在一夜之间将几项AI投资变成了规模达450亿美元的巨头。他将这些资金投入到“任何可能在模糊程度上从AI热潮中获益的项目”中，使他的基金处于“全球最热门交易的中心”。但上周，这一切都崩塌了。AI股票的剧烈下跌促使高盛公司要求偿还贷款，而该对冲基金无法偿还——除非进行一场200亿美元的贱卖。最终，“在华尔街历史上规模最大的紧急股权交易之一”中，另一家对冲基金城堡投资（Citadel）趁虚而入，以大幅折扣买下了几乎整个投资组合。阿申布伦纳誓言要“在未来的日子里继续战斗”。但其基金的迅速崩溃震惊了华尔街，再次引发了人们对AI泡沫的担忧。《彭博社》的亚伦·布朗（Aaron Brown）表示，这不过是另一个“飞得太靠近太阳的科技神童”的例子。阿申布伦纳上个月刚告诉投资者，“情境意识”在今年上半年的回报率高达439%。这种回报率“一个世纪发生不到一次”，且绝不可能出现在基金成立的第二年。无需风险报告就能确定，这个“幸运的傻瓜”同样“没有人告诉他多少杠杆才算过多”。《纽约邮报》的查尔斯·加斯帕里诺（Charles Gasparino）表示，阿申布伦纳备受赞誉的水晶球“从桌上滚落，在客厅地板上摔得粉碎”。但他并不是唯一一个对AI持有“非理性繁荣”的人。华尔街的大多数人都在“密切关注‘情境意识’的情况，因为他们持有许多相同的头寸”。在2000年互联网泡沫破裂和2008年金融危机之前，也存在类似的“对某种新颖且可能具有变革性的事物感到兴奋”的情绪。“情境意识”可能是“矿井里的金丝雀”。《经济学人》指出，如今AI公司面临的问题是，“很少有公司将AI视为核心技术，这限制了他们愿意在AI上投入的资金”。根据Intuit的数据，美国中小企业中仅有约1 / 10支付了专用AI工具的费用；对于其余企业来说，“免费或极低成本的AI模型通常已经足够好”。更糟糕的是，调查显示，随着新鲜感的消退，AI的使用率已经趋于平缓。如果你将顶尖科技公司的AI营收相加，总额大约为1500亿美元。然而，他们却在AI相关研发上花费了9000亿美元，并为此借款4000亿美元。《金融时报》的凯蒂·马丁（Katie Martin）表示，这就是为什么投资者对科技界的“炒作大师”感到厌倦的原因。“或许埃隆·马斯克的SpaceX上市确实为这个投机市场周期的顶峰敲响了警钟。”其股价目前已从峰值下跌了一半。研究公司Vanda的数据显示，总体而言，散户投资者抛售科技股的速度是“自新冠危机以来最快的”。这是一个信号，表明“投资者意识到傲慢之情一直在累积”，他们正在“重新调整投资组合”，以拒绝那些“显而易见的胡说八道”。

沃什让市场难以捉摸

约翰·卡西迪，《纽约客》

约翰·卡西迪表示，“担任央行行长从来不是一项轻松的工作”。凯文·沃什已经在通过艰苦的方式体会到这一点。在上周的联邦公开市场委员会会议上，这位新任美联储主席“在发言中大多使用了陈词滥调和概括性话语”。当被问及关于提高利率的讨论时，他回避了问题。这导致交易员抛售长期国债，表明他们对美联储未来的方向存在不确定性而感到不安。沃什对此言之无物的理由是他长期以来认为美联储说得太多了。在某种意义上，他像是一个“回归旧派央行行长的人，这些人极其看重决策中的绝对裁量权，且极少发表言论”。但拒绝提供前瞻性指引“不能成为不提供任何当前指引”的理由，尤其是关于美联储维持利率不变的逻辑。这是“导致混乱、不确定性和更高借贷成本的药方”。而一种愤世嫉俗的观点认为，沃什的主要目标是“避免在期中选举前通过加息而触怒特朗普总统”，这解释了为什么“他如此不愿给未来留下任何把柄”。到目前为止，他的沟通策略未能证明“他实际上独立于特朗普”。在他证明这一点之前，债券交易员和评论员“将对他每一句评论，或拒绝评论的行为做出怀疑反应，而谁又能责怪他们呢？”

波多黎各的克莱门特错误

伊利亚·夏皮罗，《城市杂志》

伊利亚·夏皮罗表示，罗伯托·克莱门特的遗产属于波多黎各的历史和文化，但他的注册商业标志仍属于他的家人。然而，当这个联邦共和国“颁布法律，要求驾驶员为带有克莱门特姓名、形象、21号球衣号码以及其职业生涯3,000次安打记录的车牌和注册标签支付额外费用”时，波多黎各政府攫取了这些收益，而非克莱门特的儿子们。他们根据《兰瑟姆法案》（联邦商标法）和第五修正案的征收条款提起诉讼。美国上诉法院驳回了宪法主张，认为政府征收财产的禁令“仅适用于有形财产”，而不适用于“无形”的商标。最高法院应当指出这一区别，并“为克莱门特而战”。第五修正案从未定义财产必须是能够被“称重、测量、围栏或塞进仓库”的东西。詹姆斯·麦迪逊也没有这样定义，他将财产描述为任何“一个人可以赋予价值并主张权利”的东西。一旦“未经授权的用户利用”一个商标，其所有者就“失去了对‘赋予该标志价值之物’的控制”。第一巡回法院的裁决创下了一个危险的先例。当“政府为了公共用途征用私有财产时，必须为此付费”。

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 商业摘要 / 纽约时报 / 波士顿 --- 讣告 35

将尸体变为艺术的解剖学家 冈特·冯·哈根斯 (Gunther von Hagens) 1945-2026

冈特·冯·哈根斯揭开了人体的奥秘。这位德国解剖学家开发出一种保存人类尸体的方法，通过用塑料替换体液和脂肪，使剥皮后的身体能够被摆姿势和塑形，从而展露骨骼和器官。虽然这些保存的尸体最初旨在用于医学生的教学，但冯·哈根斯很快将它们用于结合了科学与艺术的公开巡展。“人体世界”（Body Worlds）展出了处于跑步、下棋或交媾等生活姿态的阴森人体模型，极受欢迎，在全球吸引了约 5800 万 名参观者。

但许多人（无论是宗教人士还是世俗人士）认为这些展览在道德上令人反感。一名柏林拉比将人类尸体的商品化比作纳粹将大屠杀受害者转化为肥皂和灯罩的行为。但冯·哈根斯对“弗兰肯斯坦”和“死亡博士”等标签不屑一顾，称自己从事的是教育事业。他在 1998 年表示，这些模型让你能够“意识到自己是人类物种的一员”，“你的人性变得清晰”。

冯·哈根斯原名冈特·格哈德·利布琴（Gunther Gerhard Liebchen）——在与第一任妻子科妮莉亚·冯·哈根斯结婚后，他放弃了这个名字——出生于现在的

波兰斯卡尔米耶日采（Skalmierzyce）。《华盛顿邮报》报道称，他的父亲曾是党卫军，在他出生几天后，“父母在逃离逼近的俄罗斯军队时，将他放在了一个洗衣篮里”。在共产主义时期的东德长大，他在 6, 岁因血友病住院期间开始对医学产生兴趣。在医学院就读期间，他开始抗议 1968 年苏联入侵捷克斯洛伐克，并因试图越过铁幕逃亡而被监禁，直到西德允许他进入。

在那里，他开发了被他称为“塑化”（plastination）的保存技术，并于 1995 年在东京开设了首个“人体世界”展览。《纽约时报》称，“并非所有人都认同”这是一种公共服务。一些展览遭到抗议，甚至被破坏；2004, 一家德国杂志指称他在中国的塑化工厂使用了被执行死刑的囚犯尸体。冯·哈根斯表示他对此并不知情。不过，《金融时报》称，“争议逐渐平息”，到 2024, 已有超过 2万,000 人同意在死后接受塑化处理。冯·哈根斯在 2008, 年被诊断出患有帕金森病，他决定自己也成为其中之一。他说：“知道我在死后仍能继续教学，这给我带来了极大的满足感。”

用信任取代强迫的“马语者”

蒙蒂·罗伯茨（Monty Roberts）拒绝通过恐吓马匹来使其服从。他摒弃了像他父亲那样传统的驯马师所采用的激进且暴力的手段，开发出一种平和的方法，能在几分钟内安抚受惊的骏马。

蒙蒂·罗伯茨 (Monty Roberts) 1935-2026

青少年时期，他在内华达州的高原沙漠研究野生野马，学习它们通过姿势和眼神交流的无声语言，他将其称为“Equus”。这项技术使他成为一名炙手可热的训练师，并引起了热爱骑马的英国女王伊丽莎白二世的关注。他成为了女王终身的顾问和朋友。

“6,000年来，马匹一直是在大量暴力中被驯服的，在可以骑乘之前需要花费四到六周时间，”罗伯茨在2022年说道。“而我可以在不到30分钟内训练马匹接受第一次鞍具和骑手。”

据《纽约时报》报道，马文·厄尔·罗伯茨二世（Marvin Earl Roberts Jr.）在加利福尼亚州萨利纳斯的牧场长大，“到3岁时，他就能自信地让马行走、慢跑和快跑”。他小时候“是个如此熟练的骑手”，以至于经常顶替米基·鲁尼（Mickey Rooney）等好莱坞童星出演。

但他的家庭生活充满了虐待。罗伯茨在自传中写道，当他7岁时，他试图向父亲展示对待动物更温柔的方式，结果被“用链条如此严重地殴打”以至于必须住院。

据英国《电讯报》报道，直到1989年女王邀请他来驯养她的马匹之前，他与马沟通的技巧一直是一个“或多或少属于私人的奇迹”。在尼古拉斯·埃文斯（Nicholas Evans）1995年出版的《马语者》（The Horse Whisperer）——该书并非基于他的经历——问世后，罗伯茨凭借自己的畅销自传成为了“国际名人”。

“一名优秀的训练师能听到马在对他说话，”他写道。“而一名伟大的训练师能听到马在低语。”

推动 F-35 的德克萨斯州共和党人 凯·格兰杰 (Kay Granger) 1943-2026

凯·格兰杰的一生充满了政治上的“第一”。她是沃思堡（Fort Worth）首位女性市长，也是德克萨斯州首位共和党女性国会议员，这一里程碑直到 1996. 年才实现。在众议院的 14 届任期内，她成为首位领导强大的拨款委员会的共和党女性，并赢得了随时准备满足任何军费支出请求的“国防鹰派”声誉。她是 F-35 的坚定支持者，这种高科技战机以巨额成本超支而闻名，且并非巧合地在沃思堡生产。在社会问题上，格兰杰相对温和，她对那些指责她立场不够强硬的保守派批评者毫无耐心。“如果你减税、严厉打击犯罪并致力于建设经济，我永远无法理解这其中有什么自由派的地方，”她说。“是因为我喜欢孩子并相信教育吗？”

美联社表示，诺维尔·凯·格兰杰在沃思堡长大，并“追随母亲的脚步从事教学”，曾担任九年高中英语教师。在年轻时离婚并成为单亲母亲后，她转换了方向，开始销售保险，并建立了一家经营了 20 年的企业。为了阻止在她家附近建立一座

废物处理厂，她开始积极参与政治，进入了分区委员会和市议会，并于 1991. 年当选市长。她“使沃思堡衰落的经济状况复苏，引起了全国关注”，该市成为了洛克希德·马丁航空公司的总部所在地，1995, 年，共和党选中她竞选国会议员。《沃思堡星电报》（Fort Worth Star-Telegram）称，作为一名立法者，她以“直率”和务实著称，在“国防项目方面”拥有特别的影响力。她的心头好——洛克希德的 F-35, 成为了历史上最昂贵的武器计划，耗资约 $2 万亿。

《华盛顿邮报》称，格兰杰在任的最后一年以丑闻收场。2024, 年，在经历了五个月没有投票且“她的德克萨斯州办公室似乎关闭”之后，一名选民向《达拉斯快报》（The Dallas Express）透露，她正身处一家养老机构，患有认知障碍症。在后期的任期中，格兰杰“发现自己日益被夹在她的中间派根源与兴起的极右翼 MAGA 运动之间”。对于一个致力于两党合作的人来说，这是一个艰难的处境。“党派僵局对于我们国家的未来来说不是一条可持续的道路，”她在 2014 年表示。“美国人民知道并理解这一点。”

THE WEEK 8 月 14, 2026 --- 36 The Last Word

将抗议转化为犯罪

萨姆·莱文（Sam Levin）在《卫报》中写道，埃里克·戴维斯（Erik Davis）是数千名和平集会反对美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）的明尼苏达州居民之一。现在，美国政府正试图将其判处六年监禁。

6月16日，53岁的埃里克·戴维斯正开车前往明尼苏达州圣保罗参加一次医疗预约，此时联邦特工包围了他的车辆。“他们把我拽了出来……给我戴上了腹链，”他回忆道。他当场被逮捕，指控其参与了一场旨在“阻碍或伤害”移民和海关执法局（ICE）官员的“阴谋”。

戴维斯是一名大学教授，也是两个孩子的父亲。今年早些时候，当特朗普政府在双子城发起针对移民的激进打击行动时，他是数千名参与集会的明尼苏达州居民之一。现在，政府指控他和其他14人使用“武力、恐吓和威胁”来阻止官员执行公务。在长达94页的起诉书中，政府辩称戴维斯所关联的组织者松散联盟“明尼苏达直接行动”（Direct Action Minnesota）共谋阻碍联邦执法，并且与“反法西斯主义（antifa）”有“联系”。

此次起诉延续了今年针对示威者的其他案件模式，即政府通过强调联盟中部分活动人士的言论和行为，将所有15名被告描绘成追求对ICE实施暴力的煽动者。上个月，芝加哥的一起类似案件戏剧性地崩塌。德克萨斯州的示威者最近被判定恐怖主义罪名成立，并被判处数十年监禁，但在该案中，一名抗议者开枪击伤了一名官员。而在明尼苏达州的案件中，检察官并未指控官员受到任何具体伤害。

民权倡导者表示，这些起诉即使最终失败，也是企图将合法的社区组织行为刑事化、削弱反对驱逐出境的运动，并颠覆活动人士生活的努力的一部分。

政府称，戴维斯参加并促成了关于抗议的会议，并与其他活动人士讨论其“反权威”意识形态。他并未被指控实施暴力行为，未被指控在抗议中采取任何具体行动，也未与ICE特工发生过任何冲突。他面临六年的监禁。

“这是卑劣的报复，”戴维斯说，“他们试图将参与社区活动描绘成一种非法的阴谋行为。”

戴维斯和其他被告在接受《卫报》采访时表示，他们有信心针对自己的案件将会崩塌。但戴维斯认为，政府是在试图发出信号：“这不仅仅关乎我们。这是在试图恐吓每一个反对ICE的人。”

戴维斯是圣保罗麦卡莱斯特学院（Macalester College）的一名佛教研究学者，长期参与该地区的劳工组织以及反对警察暴力的活动。他说，当联邦特工在1月份大规模涌入双子城以搜捕移民时，他感到必须挺身而出：“那是对我们街道的一次联邦入侵和恐怖行动。那些蒙面暴徒的行为令人毛骨悚然……他们将活生生的人从家庭中撕裂出来。”

在勒内·古德（Renée Good）和亚历克斯·普雷蒂（Alex Pretti）被杀后，愤怒情绪和当地的组织工作激增。出现了快速反应和互助网络、记录ICE出没情况的小组、权利告知培训课程，以及为被困在家的移民家庭提供食物捐赠。许多人加入了与陌生人的Signal群组以获取信息。

“这太令人震惊了。压倒性的感觉是，几乎每个人都反对、愤怒且恐惧，而且几乎每个人都想做点什么，”加入了邻里超本地群聊的戴维斯说道。

起诉书并未描述戴维斯策划了任何具体的抗议计划、向其他活动人士提供详细指示或实施任何暴力行为。但起诉书指称，在古德被杀四天后的1月11日，戴维斯协助为对“反抗ICE”感兴趣的居民组织了一次“紧急会议”，会议讨论了抗议策略，例如公民不服从、游行以及旨在阻止ICE官员的“封锁”。检察官还引用了戴维斯六天后在Signal群组发布的一条帖子，他在其中分享了即将到来的抗议活动信息，并鼓励人们前往一座联邦移民大楼。起诉书进一步指出，戴维斯建议人们在示威现场期间删除该群组，且他参加了另外两次会议和一场集会。

起诉书指控其他被告犯有更严重的罪行：据称另外八名被告参加了3月1日的一次行动，当时示威者持有盾牌并阻挡车辆进出一座联邦大楼。检察官表示，在抗议期间“有人向当地警长投掷物品”，但未具体说明是否有被告参与其中。四名被告因独立事件面临指控。其中一人被指控在1月份告诉人们去弄枪。一人被指控在5月份跟踪一名特工前往紧邻州界的威斯康星州。还有一人被指控在5月份涉嫌将文件从一名特工手中拍掉并踢了一名警官的车，从而构成袭击和破坏政府财产罪。

起诉书并未指称戴维斯参与了3月或5月的任何事件。在整份起诉书中，没有关于特定ICE官员受伤的指控，也没有像近期德克萨斯州普雷里兰（Prairieland）联邦起诉抗议者案件中那样指控严重的暴力行为（在该案中，一名抗议者开枪导致一名警官受伤）。明尼苏达州美国检察官丹尼尔·罗森（Daniel Rosen）表示，明尼阿波利斯的抗议者是否造成了身体伤害，并不是衡量本案犯罪程度的标准。

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 Eric Raby / 卫报 ---

最后一言 37

起诉书更广泛的暗示是，戴维斯在 Signal 聊天记录和会议中的言论，连同其他人的言论和行为，表明这些团体集体共谋反对美国政府的权威并干扰美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）——并且他们与那些“融合了无政府主义和共产主义观点”的“Antifa 团体”有关联。在宣布指控的新闻发布会上，罗森表示，检方支持唐纳德·特朗普去年签署的一项行政命令，该命令将“antifa”指定为负责针对 ICE 实施“暴乱”的“国内恐怖组织”。 并非一个正式实体，而是一个涵盖广泛的反法西斯活动主义的统称。为了支持所谓的“”关联，美国司法部（DOJ）重点展示了一张照片，照片中一名被告穿着一件印有“我是 ！”的卫衣。检察官还引用了另一名被告在 Facebook 上的帖子：“仅靠非暴力，你们永远不会获胜。”起诉书并未引用戴维斯关于 的任何评论。指控并未定义抗议者之间的关系，也没有提供证据证明像戴维斯这样的被告认可其他被指控者更激进的言论或行为。当局表示，戴维斯在一条 Signal 消息中将自己的意识形态称为“无政府主义”、“广泛的反权威主义”和“广泛的反资本主义”，并赞扬了“我们组织的革命潜力”和“战斗性”。明尼苏达州的美国司法部发言人拒绝置评。美国国土安全部的一位发言人拒绝回答关于此案的问题，并指向早前的一份声明，其中称那些“对执法人员动手……的人将受到法律最严厉的起诉”。戴维斯表示，他自己的政治信仰集中在扩大平等和人们的自由，以及反对国家暴力和权威主义——他说，这与暴力“无政府主义”极端分子的刻板印象相去甚远。他说，他协助促成的会议涉及一百多名参与者，意识形态广泛——这是一个在古德被杀后人们聚集在一起的空间。“我不确定我被描述为做了任何非法的事情，这很合理，因为我没有。”他指出，由于担心警察在逮捕期间访问手机，人们在抗议期间删除 Signal 聊天记录是很常见的。“这令人困惑。这看起来很奇怪且可笑，”戴维斯在谈到起诉书时说。“感觉起诉书的长度是为了掩盖其内容的单薄。我是一名教授。我见过人们在没什么可说的时候通过填充来增加论文篇幅。”

在面临最严重指控的明尼苏达州抗议者中，包括娜塔莎·拉科茨。拉科茨是一名 45 岁的家庭健康助手，她说在 ICE 到达这座城市后，她花了一段时间才参与到组织工作中。她说她没有与任何活动团体联系，也不知道从哪里开始。但她感到在道义上有义务：“人们说，‘如果那是 1935 年的德国，我会怎么做？’我不能无所作为。我不能坐视不管，等待他们杀死另一个人。我不能坐在我特权阶层的白人生活中，允许政府绝对地蹂躏那些需要保护的人……感觉没有人会来救我们。”拉科茨最终与监测 ICE 的团体建立了联系，并全身心地投入到工作中。与戴维斯一样，拉科茨面临共谋指控。政府称她参与了一个专注于观察 ICE 车辆的 Signal 聊天，讨论她将在什么时间进行观察以及她如何拍摄车牌照片。她询问其他人观察到了什么，并表示她有兴趣了解更多关于公民不服从的行为。但此外，司法部表示，在 5 月 18 日，拉科茨跟随一名联邦移民官员的车辆，进行了“刹车试探”（brake checked）并“侧向擦撞”了该车，“导致了一次碰撞”。起诉书未提供进一步细节。

1月份在明尼阿波利斯游行的ICE抗议者。Rakotz否认了这一指控。州记录显示，被召集至碰撞现场的当地警员以涉嫌违反其“谨慎驾驶义务”这一轻罪对其发出传票，这属于轻微违规。一份法院报告称，她告诉一名警员她并没有跟随该联邦特工，且碰撞是一起意外。她当时并未被逮捕。最终，州检察官撤销了该轻罪指控，称联邦检察官将就该事件提起指控。美国检察官办公室随后指控Rakotz袭击警员，指控称存在“肢体接触”和“伤害”，尽管起诉书并未指明受害者，也未具体说明碰撞可能造成的伤害，且未详细描述政府车辆的任何损坏。该项指控除了共谋罪的六年刑期外，还可能导致20年的监禁。

“我深信这些指控会被撤销，因为它们毫无根据且荒谬，”Rakotz说道，“但我感觉这个过程本身就是一种惩罚。”目前尚未确定审判日期，而像这样复杂的案件可能会拖延数月。与此同时，此案对被告产生了深远的影响。

“他们试图毁掉我们的生活……我尽量不去时刻提醒自己，这套官僚体制带来的后果就是我的自由，”Davis说道。Davis担心这对他的职业生涯产生影响。他表示，长期以来他一直努力将学术工作与社会活动分开，但现在作为一名涉嫌“共谋者”被推到聚光灯下，他担心自己的学术研究可能会受到影响。他说，他一直难以入眠，且此案对他的人际关系造成了打击。15名被告之间被下达了严格的“禁止接触”令，这意味着他与几位同样是本案被告的亲密朋友失去了联系。他努力不去纠结被监禁六年的可能性：“我怀疑在某个时刻我会感到恐惧，并且必须面对这一点……但因为我们得到了支持和团结，我一直能够保持无畏。”

Davis和Rakotz都表示，他们不希望此案令他人在组织反对ICE的活动时产生畏缩，并希望人们能继续关注遭受ICE执法和暴力的移民群体。

“比发生在我们身上的任何事情都更重要的，是继续组织起来反对街道上那些戴面具的武装人员，”Davis说道。Rakotz表示，她也尽量不去思考被定罪意味着什么。“我现在是自由的，我拒绝让这件事阻止我享受生活，以及尽我所能地对社区产生积极影响。”她停顿了一下，“如果因为我为了更广泛的利益而尽力而必须入狱，我已经准备好且愿意这样做。”

本文原载于《卫报》（The Guardian）。经许可使用。

《本周》杂志 2026年8月14日 --- 38

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Editor's letter

I have a confession to make: I thought Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey was me. A tolerable 6 out of 10. A "I guess I'd watch it again if I was channel-hopping late at night in a hotel room." Based on my social media feed, that's not the typical reaction. Most people judged this adaptation of Homer's epic to be either (a) a cinematic masterpiece or (b, especially if you're Elon Musk) the worst thing to happen to Western civilization since the Black Death. But I just found it a bit plodding, and far less awe-inducing than 1963's Jason and the Argonauts. (Every film can be improved by a sword fight with stop-motion skeletons.) Still, there is one thing I truly loved about The Odyssey: that it has got us all talking. And about the supposedly dead classics, no less.

Cultural touchstones like The Odyssey are increasingly rare in our algorithmically curated world. Streaming services feed each of us a bespoke diet of movies, TV shows, and music based on past likes and views; my Netflix recommendations are heavy on World War II documentaries and Viking soap operas. Water-cooler moments are impossible when we all float around in individual entertainment bubbles. But The Odyssey has popped some of those bubbles. As we've emerged from theaters, the conversation has flowed. Some newly minted Homer experts have ranted about the liberties Nolan took with the text—I did chuckle when one character solemnly declares, "Our age of bronze is collapsing." Others have pointed out the many ways the epic has been retold through the ages, always shifting to reflect contemporary values.

While doing some yard work last week, I chatted with two neighbors about the film. One found it to be a poignant meditation on war and man's self-destructive streak, the other thought Matt Damon was a mopey bore. As we talked, I realized this was the first time in the six years I've lived in this house that I'd discussed movies with my neighbors. Like Damon's Odysseus, it made me mourn a vanishing age, one in which we inhabited a shared culture. Maybe we can bring it back. So, who's up for a Jason and the Argonauts viewing party?

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4 NEWS

The Main Stories...

U.S. low on missiles as Trump seeks exit from Iran

What happened

President Trump claimed that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war with Iran was close at hand this week, as multiple news outlets reported that the U.S. military was running perilously low on long-range precision missiles and missile interceptors as a result of the five-month conflict. As The Week went to press, Iran said it was in the “final stages” of negotiating a deal with Oman that would see the strait, a vital conduit for Middle Eastern oil, reopen under joint control. No tolls or service fees—a major U.S. sticking point—would be charged for at least 60 days under the deal, Axios reported. Any agreement would be dependent on the U.S. lifting its naval blockade of Iran’s ports. In a familiar pattern that has emerged since the start of the war in February, Trump vowed last week to unleash “military terror” on Iran, before citing diplomatic progress on the strait and Iran’s nuclear program as a reason for stepping back.

Amid the negotiations, Reuters reported the U.S. military had used most of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles. Three sources told the outlet that “virtually all” of the Army’s long-range munitions, including Army Tactical Missile Systems and Precision Strike Missiles, had been fired, raising concerns about America’s readiness for future conflicts. Meanwhile, CNN reported that air defense systems were dangerously depleted, with the military having used close to 80% of its THAAD interceptors and half of its Patriot interceptors. Trump insisted that the U.S. has “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and “far more than we need.”

What the columnists said

There are reasons to be “skeptical” about the potential longevity of any strait deal, said Tim Lister in CNN.com. Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard is absent from negotiations and would have to sign off on any deal. And the fact remains that the U.S. and Iran have irreconcilable agendas. “Control or supervision” of the strait is now “a red line for Tehran”—but “the prospect of such leverage is unacceptable in Washington, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh.”

Iran believes it “has the upper hand,” said Erika Solomon in The New York Times. To the mullahs, Trump backing down from a threatened military escalation yet again telegraphs to the world that

A banner mocking Trump in Tehran

“they are not the ones who fear war—Trump is.” The Iranians believe they’ve “found the world’s Achilles’ heel” in the “critical energy facilities and waterways” that sit across the Persian Gulf, and which Iran has shown it can damage and shut down with drones, ballistic missiles, and help from regional allies. The mullahs are not about to give that power up, and Trump doesn’t fully grasp how they “refuse to be bullied or cowed.”

As Trump swears Iran is eager for a deal, investigators believe Tehran is behind a recent wave of cyberattacks on municipal water systems across the U.S., said

Dan De Luce in NBCNews.com. The administration confirmed last week that “malicious cyber actors” had attacked water operations in seven states, including Minnesota, Michigan, and New Jersey. The breaches follow warnings from U.S. officials that “Iran-backed hackers were targeting the nation’s critical infrastructure.” But Trump dismissed the idea that Iran was involved, blaming the Minnesota attacks on the state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz.

Meanwhile, an alarming email sent by military commanders shows how the Trump administration is “floundering” in its “hunt for an off-ramp,” said Rachel E. VanLandingham in MS.nov. In what we can only “wish was satire,” CNN reported this week that U.S. Central Command emailed military analysts seeking “creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran.” It’s close to a “straightforward admission” that our “plan in Iran is failing.” And it “cannot be overstated” that sending out such solicitations “is not how professional, competent militaries achieve success.”

Trump’s mandate now is to “find the least bad way out,” said Jonah Shepp in New York. Under pressure from the public, his party, and Gulf allies—who last week beseeched him to not escalate the conflict—he “wants and needs to end this war.” But short of a ground campaign, he has no realistic path to anything he can cast as a win. With Iran empowered by its newfound leverage over the strait and willing to absorb Trump’s bombs, even a return to the prewar status quo—with an open strait and restrictions on uranium enrichment akin to what Iran “agreed to in 2015”—seems hopeless. At this point, it’s no longer “a matter of if he’ll lose this war, but how.”

It wasn’t all bad

■ A Thai restaurant owner in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is being hailed as a Good Samaritan for tracking down the owner of a sunglasses case filled with $12,000. Sak Yiengjuntuek came upon the cache of cash in a cabinet left sitting outside his restaurant. He suspected it belonged to the previous owner of the property. Yiengjuntuek tracked him down and learned the man had just been diagnosed with cancer. The recovered money will help pay his bills. “It was the right thing to do,” Yiengjuntuek said.

■ An injured kitten is standing tall again after an enterprising shelter worker employed rulers and toy cars to fashion an unconventional wheelchair. A driver in Cincinnati had spotted the injured cat among a litter along the side of a road. The kitty had a spinal injury and couldn’t walk, but at only 4 inches tall, was too small for the shelter’s feline wheelchairs. Mallory Smith, a veterinary assistant, instead used four wooden rulers, zip ties, duct tape, and some Hot Wheels cars to help the kitten get around. After using the wheelchair for a few weeks, the kitten, named Gelato, can now stand on his own. “He’s been through a lot in his, so far, very short life,” Smith said. “He’s very inspiring.”

■ An Australian mom of four became a mom of eight after delivering identical quadruplets in what doctors described as a “miracle.” The woman, Jenitar Sau Na’amoana, 34, and her husband, Jortham, were not planning on having more children when they learned they had naturally conceived monozygotic quadruplets, after four embryos split from one fertilized egg. It is estimated to occur in 1 in every 15 million pregnancies. “We don’t think it’s ever happened in Australia,” a hospital obstetrician said. The four healthy girls were born late last month via C-section at 28 weeks.

Gelato: On the move

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

Illustration by Jason Seiler. Cover photos from Reuters, AP, Getty

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...and How They Were Covered

NEWS 5

El-Sayed squeaks out Michigan primary win

What happened

Progressive firebrand Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary this week, in a race viewed by many political observers as a referendum on the party's identity. That fight turned out to be much closer than polling suggested. El-Sayed, a former public health official endorsed by independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), used his campaign as a litmus test for Democratic support of Israel, and blasted Stevens for receiving more than $30 million—about half her advertising funding—from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Stevens said El-Sayed, who would become the first Muslim U.S. senator if he wins in November, wants to "blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans." After his victory was confirmed, El-Sayed called on Michigan Democrats to "mend fences" ahead of his race against the GOP nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers.

Another Michigan progressive, William Lawrence, won his Democratic primary in a battleground House district following a campaign that focused heavily on opposing data centers. But the party's leftward momentum stalled in St. Louis, where Missouri Rep. Wesley Bell defeated his challenger, former Rep. Cori Bush, in a House primary. A pro-Israel moderate, Bell unseated Bush in 2024 after she became one of the first sitting lawmakers to call Israel's war in Gaza a genocide. Following that loss, Bush vowed to run again and warned AIPAC that she would "tear your kingdom down." Bell won this week by more than 20 points.

Can he win Michigan?

What the columnists said

El-Sayed's win was not the "resounding verdict in the Democratic civil war" he had anticipated, said Adam Wren in Politico. He was confident throughout the race, bragging about feeling no stress as voting began. Can you blame him? Some polls gave him a double-digit lead. But in the end, Stevens lost by only a point, thanks to strong support from Black and lower-income voters. Still, it was "an impressive effort" from the grassroots El-Sayed, who was outspent by Stevens by almost $60 million.

Are Democrats "playing for fun" or "playing to win"? asked Kevin D. Williamson in The Dispatch. Defeating Rogers, the GOP's "bland Trump factotum," in November ought to have been "pretty easy." But it won't be after Democrats nominated El-Sayed, a "left-wing goofball" who fixates on Jews, parties with podcaster and "Hamas apologist" Hasan Piker, and

"advocates a state-monopoly health-care system that would strip Michigan union members of cherished benefits." In a must-win battleground state, polls show he's trailing Rogers, 46% to 43%.

Stevens may have been a safer bet, said William Kristol in The Bulwark. But once the bitterness of the primary subsides, the "national environment will still help the Democratic nominee." It's Rogers, not El-Sayed, who's tainted by the historically unpopular President Trump. If El-Sayed leaves his squabbles with fellow Democrats for another day and sticks to "the fundamentals" of fighting Trump, he can help them flip the Senate.

Blanche tells Senate he'll rescind Jan. 6 fund

What happened

Todd Blanche advanced closer to confirmation as attorney general this week after placating two Republican holdouts on the Senate Judiciary Committee with a written statement saying President Trump's $1.8 billion compensation fund "is rescinded." Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) had requested that Blanche renounce the settlement the DOJ brokered in May to resolve Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over leaks of his tax returns. The deal set up an "anti-weaponization fund" to pay off Jan. 6 attackers and other Trump supporters who were prosecuted, and it also shielded Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization from audits. Cornyn and Tillis dropped their objections to Blanche's nomination after he released a signed document canceling the fund and separately assured senators that the audit shield would apply only to audits in progress, not to Trump's future tax returns. The settlement agreement, though, remains in force, so the fund could theoretically be revived at some point. "A lot of people like it," Trump said.

As The Week went to press, the Senate was preparing to vote on Blanche's confirmation. With Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hospitalized from a fall, Republicans can afford only two defections, and Susan Collins (R-Maine) pledged to vote no, citing Blanche's threat to ban telehealth abortion-pill prescriptions and what she termed his erosion of DOJ independence. All Senate Democrats were set to vote against him, with Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) saying a vote for Blanche was "a vote for the slush fund."

What the columnists said

"Don't be fooled by Blanche's weasel-worded statements," said Philip Rotner in The Bulwark. His careful legalese "did not kill off Trump's egregiously corrupt fund"—that would require Trump's signature or those of his lawyers. Either Blanche has "bamboozled Cornyn and Tillis" with his pinkie-promise statements or the senators "have simply caved."

The IRS audit shield "is at least as bad" as the slush fund, said Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review. Protecting anyone from audits is "flatly illegal," and this immunity deal saves Trump an estimated $100 million in back taxes and penalties. Blanche abused his authority in granting such a gift, and it shows he will act "as Trump's agent," not a public servant.

Yet the "harsh reality" is that the Senate can't thwart Trump's determination to have a subservient lackey as attorney general, said Susan Del Percio in MS.now. If it's not Blanche, formerly Trump's personal lawyer, it will be "someone else just as bad." What's shocking is that "only two Republican senators"—neither facing re-election in November—raised even limited objections, said The Philadelphia Inquirer in an editorial. Blanche, who has used his position to prosecute Trump's opponents on flimsy pretexts and seems to have devised a sweetheart deal with Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, "has no business being attorney general." Even in his acting capacity, he has "tarnished the independence and trust in the Justice Department."

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THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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6 NEWS

Controversy of the Week

The Left: Should Democrats embrace 'democratic socialists'?

After notching a string of Democratic primary wins in New York City and Colorado, the far-left Democratic Socialists of America will face its 'biggest test' next week, said Caroline Vakil in The Hill. If the polls are right, the likely winner of the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin will be state Rep. Francesca Hong, 37, a tattooed former restaurant worker and 'proud' DSA member who a few years ago called for the abolition of Thanksgiving. Hong has sought to distance herself from that statement and from the DSA's radical platform, which includes such proposals as abolishing the police, prisons, borders, and the U.S. Senate, as well as ending U.S. support for Israel. Because of that baggage, mainstream Democrats like current Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers doubt Hong can beat the GOP's presumptive nominee, Rep. Tom Tiffany, in November, and worry she'll hurt downballet candidates. But Hong's supporters see no need to stress. They note the rising antiestablishment mood among Democrats and voters in general, and say the narrow win by progressive Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's Senate Democratic primary shows there's a possible path to victory in purple states.

The 'Democratic machine is fighting back' as best it can, said Noah Rothman in National Review. The Democratic National Committee last week tweaked its presidential primary schedule to favor centrist-leaning states like Nevada and South Carolina, which should help ward off 'the insurgent socialists in their ranks.' But with 1 in 3 Democratic voters now identifying as a democratic socialist it may be too little, too late. This is 'a story of establishment collapse rather than left-wing ascension,' said Astead Herndon in Vox. Candidates like Hong are winning over normie Democrats not with the DSA's extreme ideas but by pushing popular measures:

Hong: A 'proud' member of the DSA

new taxes on the superrich, Medicare for all, restraining the artificial intelligence industry. The 'rudderless' Democratic establishment, by contrast, is offering nothing except ineffective opposition to President Trump.

We need better labeling, said Jonathan V. Last in The Bulwark. The truth is that a likely majority of DSA members, and the overwhelming majority of those who tell pollsters they're 'democratic socialists,' aren't 'socialists' at all. 'They're social democrats, in the European tradition.' Like the DSA-endorsed

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), their main objectives are an expanded welfare state, including universal health-care coverage, funded by a more progressive tax code. Social democrats also want to win elections, meaning they could be a great asset within the Democratic coalition. Not so the DSA's 'Das Kapital-loving, Mao-admiring' genuine socialists who need to be rejected before they 'do to the Democratic Party what MAGA did to Republicans.'

Democrats should stop 'whining,' said Paul Waldman in Public Notice. With the primaries largely over, it's electoral self-harm to keep screaming 'half our candidates are crazy!' The party's centrists need to understand that, with control of Congress in the balance, 'they have an interest in seeing all Democrats succeed—even those who are too progressive for their taste.' Whatever happens in November 'will inform 2028,' said Nia-Malika Henderson in Bloomberg. If DSA-backed candidates can 'pull off victories in purple states,' then a new template will emerge on how to win. But if those candidates lose, the Democratic Party will have less power than ever to 'rein in Trump's many excesses,' and will sail toward 2028 still 'wrestling with itself' over what it actually believes.

Only in America

■ Facing a $1.5 billion bill to replace outdated or inoperable fire alarms at 31 prisons, California's Department of Corrections is doing without. Instead, it's paying corrections officers overtime to perform 'fire watch'—patrolling prisons in search of smoke and fire—which prison-safety expert Kristen Cowan tells CalMatters is no substitute for mechanical fire alarms. Functioning fire alarms are 'baseline disaster preparedness,' says Cowan. Their absence 'makes you wonder what else is missing.'

■ A Kansas schoolteacher was arrested for applauding a speaker at a public meeting who opposed the building of a new data center. In footage of the meeting in Emporia, physics teacher Lux Claridge claps his hands about five times before police handcuff him and drag him out of the meeting. Claridge, 37, said later that while the rough treatment was 'an inconvenience,' it won't deter him 'from speaking out or, I guess, clapping.'

Good week for:

Furries, after UCLA conservation biologist Daniel Blumstein launched 'OnlyMarms,' an OnlyFans page featuring images of wild marmots, to help offset federal funding cuts to his research on the rodents. 'It's going to be G-rated,' said Blumstein. 'We're not going to sexualize this.'

The golfer in chief, after President Trump, who has a reputation for cheating on the green, claimed to have shot a round of 70, 2 below par, to win both the Senior and Super Senior Club Championships at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. 'It's called TALENT,' the president, 80, posted online. 'I have it, and they don't!'

Gen X nostalgia, after the Trump administration announced it was exempting power plants that primarily serve data centers from pollution standards that curb 'acid rain,' the largely mitigated ecological threat that was a mainstay of headlines and dystopian fiction in the 1980s.

Bad week for:

Geography, after a State Department presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference in Brazil featured an AI-generated map of Africa that mis-labeled every single nation, and turned the West African country of Ivory Coast into a landlocked entity in Eastern Africa.

Overpacking, after TSA workers at Alabama's Gulf Shores International Airport discovered five Civil War-era cannonballs, apparently stolen from nearby Fort Morgan, inside a passenger's checked baggage. 'Even if inert and not active, travelers should avoid bringing weapons of any kind, including replicas, to the airport,' said the TSA.

Drama, after the musical director of a Vermont production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show admitted he'd faked anonymous threatening text messages that caused the show to be canceled. Police said Kenneth Grenier had been having cast problems and wanted an excuse to step away.

In other news

Trump plans to radically lower Head Start standards

The Trump administration is proposing a dramatic overhaul of federal requirements for Head Start, the 61-year-old early education program for impoverished children. The Department of Health and Human Services revealed plans this week to shrink Head Start's 133 pages of requirements for class sizes, medical screenings, and curricula down to 12 pages, while leaving most specifics up to states. The draft rules, which the public will have a month to comment on, also require more documentation from parents who are homeless or unemployed. An early version of the proposal barred immigrants in the country illegally from enrolling their children—even those who are U.S. citizens—in the program. The White House last year called Head Start 'radical' and tried to freeze spending on it. If the new plan is enacted, said former Head Start administrator Khari Garvin, 'we'd have the carcass of Head Start.'

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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The U.S. at a Glance

NEWS 7

Spokane

Arson arrest: A man who went to prison for killing his father in 2010 was charged this week with intentionally starting the largest of three wildfires that are ravaging eastern Washington state and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes. Law enforcement in Spokane County charged Aaron Farinacci, 37, with one

Fire devastation

count of first-degree arson for allegedly igniting grass with a match or a butane lighter, sparking the Old Trails Fire, which has since

destroyed about 700 homes. Farinacci was questioned by law enforcement during two fire investigations last year; he was released from prison in 2020 after serving nearly a decade for fatally shooting his father during an argument about washing dishes. More than 10,000 acres have gone up in flames since the three fires started last week. The blazes have been whipped up by strong winds and high temperatures. "It's a nightmare situation," said Gov. Bob Ferguson.

Twin Falls, Idaho

In-N-Out shooting: A gunman opened fire at a busy In-N-Out Burger restaurant this week, leaving six people wounded and three dead. Suspected attacker Chad Williams died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities described a "chaotic scene" of people scrambling to safety after Williams, 24, began firing a large rifle near a heavily

Shots exchanged.

trafficked shopping center. They praised the "heroic action" of two bystanders—an off-duty state trooper and a private citizen—who returned fire, forcing Williams to take cover. Those killed included an In-N-Out employee, and company president

Lynsi Snyder said in a statement that the worker had been "taking care of our most important asset—our customers"—when her life was taken by "a disgusting human who doesn't value the lives of others or his own." Jordan Salinas, one of the bystanders who fired at Williams, told ABC News that the suspect appeared calm initially but his demeanor changed once shots were fired at him. "All that bravado immediately crumbled," Salinas said.

Jefferson City, Mo.

GOP losses: Voters in Missouri and Kansas this week rejected Republican efforts that would have made it easier to ban abortions. In Kansas, over 60% of voters declined to pass a ballot measure to start electing state Supreme Court justices, rather than appointing them. The proposal was pushed by anti-abortion advocates, frustrated by the court's makeup of justices appointed by Democratic governors of the state, where abortion is legal. Abortion access also likely factored into a whopping 80% of Missourians spurning a ballot measure seeking to make it harder to amend the state's constitution. The state's Republican-controlled legislature was hoping to end a process used in recent years to grant abortion rights. Missouri's secretary of state, however, refused to certify a citizens' petition seeking a November referendum on the state's newly gerrymandered congressional district map, which flips a Kansas City district in Republicans' favor.

Hendersonville, N.C.

House harassment: Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) abandoned his re-election bid this week after the House Ethics Committee found "substantial reason to believe" he sexually harassed female employees. Edwards, a married 65-year-old, "engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers," the committee's report concluded. He gave them gifts ranging from the extravagant—vacations, designer bags, electronics, jewelry worth over $1,000—to the bizarre, such as matching handguns, a robotic vacuum, and a KitchenAid mixer. Edwards denied any wrongdoing. The committee this week also began investigating Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), a former Trump aide who faces domestic violence accusations. Miller has vowed to remain in the race, even though President Trump told him "things aren't looking good," Axios reported.

Detroit

Killer outbreak: The cyclosporiasis outbreak claimed its first two lives in the U.S. this week as cases of the diarrhea-inducing parasite were detected in yet more states. Two people in Michigan, the outbreak's epicenter, died of the intestinal

illness. Both victims had underlying conditions that were likely exacerbated by dehydration, Michigan's health department said. Cyclosporiasis cases topped 22,000 nationwide, with 517 people hospitalized.

Cyclosporiasis

Health officials partially attributed the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce sourced in Mexico, and multiple people in Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and North Carolina this week described eating at Taco Bell before falling ill. Sysco, the nation's biggest food distributor, said it had stopped buying iceberg lettuce from Mexico. But the illness has a two-week incubation period,

leading to a lag in symptoms. "We may have solved the Taylor Farms shredded lettuce piece," said former FDA commissioner Stephen Ostroff, "but that's unlikely to explain everything we're seeing."

Washington, D.C.

Skyline disrupted: President Trump's proposed 250-foot triumphal arch would dramatically alter the skyline of Washington, D.C., by blocking views at dozens of historic sites, according to analysis from the National Park Service. The report released this week listed 37 sites that would be "adversely affected" by the gilded arch, which would overshadow the graves of fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery and block the corridor—designed to symbolize the reunification of the North and South—between the Lincoln Memorial and Robert

E. Lee's Arlington House. Taller than the capital's legal height limits allow, the proposed monument is one of 18 major construction projects Trump has initiated in Washington during his second term. A White

Proposed arch

House official defended the project, saying it would "enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery." Retired Army officer Gary Langston disagreed, saying that veterans who visit the grave sites of fallen fellow service members will "look up and see a viewing stand with tourists looking down on you."

Getty (2) Reuters, US, Commission of Fire Arts

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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8 NEWS

The World at a Glance

No lines at the borders

Ottawa

Boycotting the U.S.: Canadians dramatically cut back on their travel to the U.S. last year after President Trump's tariffs and annexation threats, government

data released last week shows. Canadians made 29 million trips to the U.S. in 2025, down from 39 million in 2024. The boycott has cost the U.S. over $2 billion in spending, money that went to other countries as Canadians chose vacation destinations in Europe and Asia instead. T.J. Rule, owner of Toronto's Golf Away Tours, told The Globe and Mail that while in 2024 the U.S. accounted for some 13% of his bookings, this year U.S. tours make up just 0.05%. "People still want warm temperatures," he said, but "they are typically looking at Portugal and Spain."

Slagelse, Denmark

Royal recruit: Denmark's Princess Isabella, 19, started her 11-month military service this week, after mandatory conscription expanded to women last month. Denmark made the plan to beef up its military in 2024, sparked by concerns about Russian aggression, and President Trump's push to take over Greenland, a Danish territory, has only increased its resolve. The country had previously relied mostly on volunteers, filling gaps with a draft lottery for men. In a thinly veiled message to Trump, conscripts are now being deployed for the first time to Greenland for part of their tours. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told NATO allies last month that Denmark was ready to defend every inch of the alliance's territory, "including our own."

Princess Isabella

Ceuta, Spain

Border stampede: More than 70,000 people rushed across the border from Morocco into Spain's North African territory of Ceuta last week, swimming and climbing over barbed wire fences in a desperate attempt to reach European soil. The exodus was sparked by viral videos falsely claiming that a recent Spanish court ruling would allow Moroccans to stay. Spain sent soldiers to restore order in the overwhelmed city, which has a resident population of 80,000, and they returned nearly all the migrants to Morocco within a few days. (While EU countries must offer asylum hearings to incoming migrants, the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla—tiny patches of land just across the Strait of Gibraltar that Spain has held for centuries—have different rules.) During the mayhem, at least 88 people died from drowning or being crushed in the stampede. Ceuta's mayor-president, Juan Jesús Vivas, said the "atrocity" was "encouraged or permitted" by Morocco, which may have been trying to punish Madrid for its rapprochement with Morocco's archrival, Algeria. The Moroccan government flatly denied involvement.

Far-right parties in Europe shared images of the chaos—some fake, such as one purporting to show Moroccan police throwing rocks at returning migrants—and blamed it on Spain's left-wing prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has offered a path to legal residency for some 500,000 undocumented workers. Several members of the Trump administration, which is angry at Spain for opposing the Iran war and pleased with Morocco for joining Trump's Gaza Board of Peace, also shared scenes of the influx. Vice President JD Vance posted: "Thank God @POTUS was elected and our country's border no longer looks like this."

Havana

Here come the spies: The Trump administration has sent extra intelligence assets into Cuba in recent months as it increases pressure to try to topple the island's communist government, Politico reported this week. The expanded CIA presence could be a tactical step to prepare for military action. Last month, a State Department report warned that China had been expanding its own intelligence-gathering facilities in Cuba, which sits 90 miles from Florida and offers an ideal vantage point to monitor American military activity. The uncertainty over U.S. intentions has been fraying nerves. This week, there was another island-wide blackout caused by the U.S. blockade of oil shipments, and many people slept along Havana's seawall, the Malecón, seeking relief from the heat. "Things are only getting worse," said Havana resident Alexey Ríos García.

Racing to Spain

The missile left a crater.

Lublin, Poland

Russian strike: A Russian cruise missile struck a field in southern Poland last week during a wave of air strikes against neighboring Ukraine, deepening fears that Russia's war could drag in NATO. Poland and NATO allies scrambled fighter jets when the low-flying missile was detected and the alliance was prepared to shoot it down when it crashed. "This incident is yet another reckless act by Russia and a dangerous consequence of its war against Ukraine," said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. No one was injured, but the missile left a 32-foot crater. It's the second incursion into NATO territory this year, after a Russian drone struck a Romanian apartment building in May. Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the fact that the missile was produced this year confirms "that Russian wartime stockpiles have been depleted."

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

Getty (2) Reuters

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The World at a Glance

NEWS 9

Kyiv

Desperate for interceptors: Russia battered the Ukrainian capital with waves of ballistic missile attacks this week, taking advantage of the depletion of Ukraine's air defenses to blow up civilian sites like a train station, a brewery, and a postal warehouse. At least 17 people were killed. Ukraine is out of interceptors for its U.S.-made Patriot defense systems. "Interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today," said President Volodymyr Zelensky. "It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide antiballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties." Meanwhile, Russia said Ukraine was behind a bombing at a Moscow restaurant where Gen. Alexander Chayko was celebrating his birthday. Chayko was not killed but five others were.

A warehouse in flames

Broad Peak, Pakistan

Climbers' bodies found: Rescue crews this week located the bodies of famed British Nepali mountaineer Nirmal "Nims" Purja and nine other climbers who were swept away in an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak. Purja, 43, was featured in the 2021 Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible after he climbed the world's 14 highest peaks in a then-record 189 days. "His legacy will live on in the countless lives he changed and the people he inspired to climb their own mountains," said the Nimsdai Foundation, a charity he started to raise money for Nepali communities. Among the others who died was Sarah Mallory Geis, 39. The American mountaineer, who recently closed her San Antonio Pilates studio to pursue climbing, was making her first attempt at one of the 14 peaks.

Purja, after his record climb

Naypyidaw, Myanmar

Suu Kyi appears: Myanmar's military regime released proof this week that Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation's former civilian leader, is still alive after more than five years in detention. Suu Kyi's British son Kim Aris had led a campaign demanding that the regime produce his mother, and a Red Cross representative was allowed to meet with her. Suu Kyi, 81, was the face of Myanmar's pro-democracy struggle for decades and the de facto head of government from 2016 until 2021, when the military took over in a coup. She was convicted of bribery and other charges in a series of show trials and has been detained incommunicado. "I hope this is the beginning of transparency, humanitarian access, and ultimately my mother's freedom," said Aris. "But hope is not proof."

Gaza City

Will Hamas disarm? President Trump announced last week that Hamas had agreed to give up its weapons after negotiations with his Board of Peace. Trump said the U.S.-brokered deal marked a "historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas" and other armed Palestinian groups in Gaza, calling it a "monumental step toward lasting peace." But the impasse between Hamas and Israel remained. Hamas said this week it would disarm only after Israel halted strikes and fully withdrew its military from Gaza, while Israel said it wouldn't do that until Hamas disarmed. A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said withdrawing before Hamas was fully disarmed would result in "another Oct. 7-style attack."

Hamas fighters

Bunia, Congo

Dying in childbirth: The number of Congolese women dying in childbirth has nearly doubled since the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo began in May, the Associated Press reported this week. Pregnant women have been avoiding clinics and hospitals, partly because they fear they'll contract the virus there and partly because clinics have become vulnerable to attack. Some local hospitals have been stormed by relatives of deceased Ebola victims, angry that they are not allowed to claim their loved ones' still-contagious bodies. Congo already had one of the world's highest maternal death rates before the crisis, with an average of three women dying from pregnancy complications each week in Ituri province, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. That figure has now risen to nearly six deaths per week. The outbreak, meanwhile, has spread with unprecedented speed and killed more than 1,600 people.

Nazi ships revealed.

the Serbia-Romania border that the wrecks of dozens of German World War II battleships have emerged. The ships were part of a fleet of some 200 that the Nazis deliberately scuttled in 1944 in an effort to block a Soviet advance, and many still carry explosives and live ammunition. The Danube, Europe's longest river, flows through 10 nations, and all of them have been affected by the summer's extensive drought. Romania had to shut down one of its nuclear reactors, normally cooled by Danube waters, and workers blasted through rock to divert water to the cooling tanks in the other one. Hungary came close to shutting all four reactors at its Soviet-era nuclear plant, before the water level inched back up. "We were just a few millimeters away from a complete shutdown," Prime Minister Peter Magyar said.

Prahovo, Serbia

Danube dries up: The water level in the Danube River has dropped so low along

Cathy, Reuters 09, Getty

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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10 NEWS

People

McBride's religious education

Church is no longer part of Danny McBride's life, said David Marchese in The New York Times. But growing up in Virginia, the creator of The Righteous Gemstones was a regular at Sunday service. His mom, says the actor and comedian, "was a puppet minister" in the family's small Baptist congregation. "She would write these plays and do the children's sermons. These little moral-

my tales about why you shouldn't steal or covet what your neighbors have." McBride, 49, thinks that's where he got his storytelling chops. "There was something about it I just found fun—to know that there was something concocted for the benefit of other people." The family stopped going to church after McBride's parents divorced and congregants began whispering about his mother. "It became an uncomfortable place for her." But looking back, he realizes that he learned all his "basic morals and values" sitting in the pews, which leaves him wondering about his own kids. "I'm taking for granted that they're going to pick all that stuff up from the world around them, but they're not. It's a dangerous time, honestly, with how much influence these phones have and what people are getting exposed to without really realizing it. Even the algorithm can be tainting what you think is right and wrong."

A coffee hunter's search for wild beans

Aaron Davis is a wild-coffee prospector, said Tomas Weber in The Economist. A botanist at London's Kew Gardens, he has spent decades cataloging the world's coffee species while also hunting for one that could eventually replace the two most popular varieties, arabica and robusta, both vulnerable to climate change. It's exhausting, dangerous work. While searching the forests of Madagascar in the late 1990s, Davis contracted trench foot and spent a week in the hospital with hookworm. He looks back on those ordeals with fondness. "The combination of being naive, young, and not having a great deal of funds always makes things exciting," says Davis, 61. He discovered his white whale in Sierra Leone in 2018: stenophylla, a heat-resistant coffee species that was feared extinct. Tasting it was "mind-blowing." Specialty roasters now compete to sell the limited supplies of stenophylla, but the wider industry is skeptical, believing the species too challenging to grow at scale. Davis is continuing his hunt in West Africa for more wild-coffee species. "I don't drink that common stuff anymore," he says with a laugh, about the Nescafé served by his hotel on a recent visit to Sierra Leone. "I drink stuff that's not even known to science."

How Astin avoided the child-star trap

Sean Astin followed in his mother's footsteps—but carefully, said Steve Rose in The Guardian (U.K.). Patty Duke, who won an Oscar at age 16 for portraying Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, was taken into the care of talent agents at 8, given drugs and alcohol, and abused sexually and financially. But she never discouraged her son from pursuing acting; at 13, he took the lead role in The Goonies (1985). "I think she wanted to rectify the pain of her childhood by raising a child who could have a similar experience absent that trauma," says Astin. Duke was fiercely protective of her son on set—"she was only 4-foot-11 but scared the shit out of people"—and it worked. Astin avoided the psychological damage suffered by many of his fellow child stars, including his Goonies co-star Corey Feldman, who later alleged childhood sexual abuse in Hollywood and struggled with substance abuse. "I was never interested in drugs and alcohol or wild promiscuity. I got married at 21." Now 55, Astin, best known for playing Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is the president of SAG-AFTRA, the modern version of the Hollywood union that Duke led in the 1980s. "I don't expect that anyone would look at me and think he's unflappably perfect, but I like the idea that people would look at me and go: 'Wow, he sort of put his shit together.''

In the news

■ Nicole Kidman may have a new beau—a revelation that has "absolutely devastated" her ex-husband, Keith Urban, a source told the Australian outlet New Idea last week. The actress, 59, was photographed last month cozying up with private-equity investor Michael Reinstein while on vacation in Portofino, Italy. The photos "shredded Keith," the insider said, because until then he'd hoped "there might be a chance at a reconciliation." The country star, 58, is experiencing the same "feeling of deep loss" that he endured after the couple finalized their divorce in January, said the source. Kidman, meanwhile, is embracing her post-divorce life. "There's no doubt Nicole's happier than she's been in years," said another source.

■ Jared Leto last week denied a slew of sexual misconduct and assault allegations made against him by four women in a new BBC documentary, calling the claims "absolutely and categorically false." The women, who featured in Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret, said the incidents occurred between 2002 and 2016, when they were teenagers and Leto was in his 30s and 40s. One of the women said she was 17 when the actor, now 54, sexually assaulted her in a motel bathroom. Another accused Leto of grooming her when she was 16 with sexually explicit phone calls. Nine women made similar allegations in an Air Mail report published last year. None of the allegations have resulted in criminal charges, and Leto said in a statement that he's "never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life."

■ Arizona police last week released two ransom notes purportedly sent by the individuals who kidnapped Savannah Guthrie's mother from her Tucson-area home in February. The first note, on Feb. 2, demanded at least $4 million in Bitcoin from the Today show anchor and warned that if payment wasn't received by Feb. 9, "she will be killed." The second note, sent Feb. 6, said Nancy Guthrie, 84, had died unexpectedly of a "heart-related" condition and is now "buried in nature." The Pima County Sheriff's Department said it released the notes in the hope that someone might recognize the "distinctive linguistic characteristics" in the messages and lead them to the kidnappers. In a message posted on Instagram last week, Savannah Guthrie wrote that her family had spent the past six months living "every moment, every breath, and every heartbeat in agony and despair."

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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Briefing

NEWS 11

Defunding America's 'best idea'

Trump administration policies have left many national parks short on staff and money.

How popular is the parks system?

The National Park Service recorded some 323 million visits to its 433 parks, properties, battlefields, and monuments last year. That's a slight drop from 2024's all-time high of 332 million, but more than the combined attendance of professional football, baseball, basketball, NASCAR, soccer, and Disney theme parks. Established in 1916, the NPS is today one of America's most beloved institutions. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that 76% of Americans, including overwhelming majorities of both Republicans and Democrats, view it favorably, a higher share than for any other federal agency.

But the NPS, which manages more than 85 million acres across the U.S., now faces an uncertain future because of staffing cuts and the reallocation of critical funds by the Trump administration. Author and conservationist Wallace Stegner once declared national parks America's 'best idea,' but the administration 'is treating our treasures like anything but,' said John Garder of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).

How many national parks workers have been laid off?

The agency has lost nearly 25% of its permanent workforce—over 4,000 positions—since the start of the second Trump administration, according to the NPCA. About 1,000 parks employees with probationary status were fired in early 2025, while senior staffers have been let go through deferred-resignation and early-retirement programs. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who oversees the NPS, said the agency can keep up standards with a reduced workforce by getting staff to focus on hands-on jobs, such as clearing trails. 'I want more of that,' he said. 'I want less overhead.' Staffers who traditionally work behind the scenes have been pushed into more frontline roles; at Yosemite National Park, a shortage of custodial workers in spring 2025 meant the park's scientists, IT specialists, and senior management had to take shifts cleaning toilets. Personnel cuts and delays in hiring seasonal workers have caused backups at entry gates, which at some big parks have been exacerbated by the scrapping of timed entry reservation systems. 'The traffic reminded me of L.A. at rush hour,' said Sacramento resident Walter Meyer, who visited Yosemite in April.

Are these cuts affecting park safety?

Dive team operations were quietly suspended at southern Nevada's Lake Mead National Recreation Area in May because of staffing shortages and the need for more training and equipment. The lake has consistently ranked as one of the deadliest sites managed by the NPS, with an average of 20 people dying in the park annually, mostly by drowning; one of the dive team's responsibilities is recovering the bodies of drowning victims. An NPS employee at Yosemite told The Guardian that a lack of workers last year meant visitors could 'wreck the park with no consequence' and get away with doing potentially dangerous things, such as not properly

A Memorial Day traffic jam at Yellowstone

storing their food. 'We don't want bears eating people food because they can get aggressive,' the staffer said. 'I worry the park will degrade to the point where safety is a problem.' And the problems faced by national parks have only grown this year, as President Trump redirected funding toward his preferred projects.

How is Trump spending that money?

At least $90 million from visitor entry fees to parks such as Big Bend and Yellowstone has been diverted to Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reported in early June. Much of that cash went toward Trump-requested beautification projects ahead of the country's 250th

birthday celebrations, including $76 million for fountain repairs and for the botched relining of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Entry fees were used to fund a Fourth of July firework display in the capital; it cost $1.6 million, more than five times the bill in past years. NPS also spent $689,232 this spring to rip up the walkway connecting the Oval Office to the White House residence, a 45-second commute. Trump didn't like the historic beige Tennessee flagstone and has replaced it with polished black African granite carved in Italy. Park advocates say all that cash would have been better spent tackling the NPS's $24 billion backlog of needed infrastructure repairs and improvements. 'That is not how it was designed to work,' said the NPCA's Ed Stierli. 'It shouldn't just be all at one park at the expense of the entire national park system.'

Are many parks missing out on funding?

More than 900 NPS projects that were slated to be funded this year have yet to receive money. They include a $1.5 million roof replacement at the Yellowstone Center for Resources, which is dealing with water leaks and pest invasions. Guardrails won't be replaced along a cliff edge deemed a 'significant safety hazard for visitors' at Colorado's Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and crumbling walls along a scenic drive won't be fixed at Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. At Crater Lake in Oregon, potholes riddle the main drive and two housing units for employees have been shuttered because of mold.

Is anyone trying to protect the NPS?

Some members of Congress are speaking out, as are NPS staffers. When the Trump administration started shrinking the workforce, a group of off-duty and former employees formed Resistance Rangers to document NPS's cuts and policy changes, while fired workers flew an upside-down American flag—a distress sign—at Yosemite. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington have rejected plans in Trump's 2027 budget to lay off nearly 3,000 more NPS workers and shrink the agency's budget from $3.2 billion to $2.2 billion. No lawmaker wants to be responsible for defunding such a beloved agency. Plus, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), 'I just need to know that I've got people out in the park who are keeping the bears at bay.'

Rewriting history at the NPS

At parks and monuments across the U.S., the Trump administration is reshaping how America's story is told. At least 51 exhibits have been pulled from 37 sites since Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 demanding the NPS remove any displays that 'inappropriately disparage Americans past or living' or promote 'partisan ideology.' At the site of George Washington's home in Philadelphia, officials removed panels on the slave trade and critical headlines such as 'The Dirty Business of Slavery,' but kept a mention of the nine enslaved people kept at the home by the first president. At Glacier National Park in Montana, a brochure and video about climate change were mixed. Nearly 20 signs were flagged for removal at Big Bend in Texas, including some that addressed such uncontroversial subjects as fossils and geology. Exhibits on atrocities against Native Americans were removed at the Grand Canyon and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. 'Americans count on national parks to help us understand our full, rich history,' said the NPCA's Alan Spears. 'Stories of triumph and tragedy alike deserve to be told out loud.'

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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12 NEWS

Best Columns: The U.S.

The Big Lie about the pool fiasco

Aaron Blake CNN.com

It was no real surprise when federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro admitted last week there was no evidence that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool had been vandalized, said Aaron Blake. But that's what makes this farcical episode "so scandalous." The Trump administration had charged former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn with a felony after he reached down to touch a piece of the disintegrating, newly installed blue bottom of the pool. Absurdly, Trump claimed the algae growth and failure of the renovated pool's bottom was "the work of radical-left vandals bent on destroying our country's precious monuments." Trump, Pirro, and other administration officials scapegoated Hearn, claiming to have photos of vandals cutting a 300-foot-long gash in the bottom. "Those photos never arrived." Pirro dropped all charges against Hearn after receiving the Department of Interior's own analysis, which revealed the peeling paint was "the result of a botched installation and not vandalism." A furious Trump said he was "really disappointed in Pirro," saying that she "choked" and "folded" under pressure. This surreal episode tells us that to work for Trump, you must be willing to deny reality—even if it means "throwing an innocent man in prison."

Intact families help students succeed

Ian Rowe and Brad Wilcox The Wall Street Journal

Bigotry isn't the primary cause of racial disparities in school performance, said Ian Rowe and Brad Wilcox. When news recently emerged that only three of the 777 incoming students at New York City's elite Stuyvesant High School were Black, activists and politicians immediately seized on it as "proof of discrimination" and a "rigged" system. But the main reason behind the negligible Black presence at Stuyvesant—as well as Asian students' two-thirds share of the student body—is not about skin color. It's about family structure. Only 30% of Black children in America live with two married parents, while 80% of Asian kids do. Data from the National Survey of Children's Health reveals that children from "non-intact families" are 13% less likely to earn good grades, 47% more likely to cause discipline problems, and twice as likely to be depressed. "None of this excuses a school system that has failed Black, Hispanic, and low-income families." Nor does it mean we must simply consign children from unstable home environments to a dismal future. But we can effectively address learning disparities only if "we can be honest" about why they exist.

Trump's denial of his unpopularity

Peter Baker The New York Times

President Trump's poll numbers have dropped to a historic low, said Peter Baker, but "don't expect him to change course." Multiple polls find that Trump's approval has sunk to about 33%—the lowest for any president since Richard Nixon just before he resigned over Watergate. Trump's abysmal numbers, driven down by rising gas prices, the Iran war, and corruption, "would throw a normal White House into panic mode," prompting Cabinet firings and policy changes. And outside the White House, the polls "have Republicans increasingly rattled as they dread a Democratic wave that could cost them the House and possibly even the Senate in November." But Trump is simply denying his unpopularity, insisting his approval is at 60% to 65%. "Whether he believes such numbers or not," he continues to pursue highly unpopular "legacy projects" like his White House ballroom and a massive triumphal arch. Trump has always governed "as if he were a more popular president," even though he's never won 50% of the vote in any election or cracked a 50% approval rating. Now, even at "the nadir of his presidency," Trump is doubling down, guided only by his own impulses and instincts.

Viewpoint

"Typically, a fad would take years to spread. Today, the cycle is enormously accelerated by social media, which is the primary source of information and news for millions of young people. Democratic socialism, as we see it today, is a fad. Although it might wreak some havoc in the near future, it will collapse, to be remembered merely as a passing political fancy. Both the socialism and the rightist populism we see today are temporary crazes that consume our attention, energy, and (in my profession) column inches, but distract us from the reality of a slow national decline. Politically, we fiddle while Rome burns."

Arthur Brooks in The Free Press

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

■ An employee of a cable TV company claims in a lawsuit that his boss ritually humiliated low-performing workers by having cream pies smashed in their faces. David Figueroa, a sales consultant at a Comcast store in Plainville, Conn., said the manager ranked sales staff each month and told the top performer to cream-pie the bottom one while the target was tied to a chair. The suit says the manager videos these humiliations. A Comcast spokesman disputes Figueroa's account.

■ An Italian fraudster has been jailed for building an elaborate but fake Roman amphitheater and charging tourists $45 each to visit it. Franco Malosso, 69, claimed to have discovered the ruin near the city of Vicenza following a 2025 landslide. He called it one of the world's oldest amphitheaters, dating to A.D. 393, and claimed Julius Caesar and Cleopatra had visited. But investigators found he'd constructed the site, including columns and Greek-style statues, with modern materials such as fiberglass and papier-mâché. He's begun a 28-month prison term.

■ A tiny Canadian town that has endured the stench of 330,000 gallons of rotting fish sauce for decades is finally getting relief. St. Mary's has suffered the nauseating stench since a company that fermented fish sauce was closed more than 20 years ago, leaving the sauce festering in over a hundred 3,000-gallon tanks. It was "the worst rotted fish you ever smelled in your lifetime, times 100," said Mayor Steve Ryan. The provincial government finally agreed to pay for the $1.2 million cleanup, in which the sauce will be mixed into peat moss and buried in a landfill. "It's a big relief," Ryan said.

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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14 NEWS

Best Columns: International

ARGENTINA

Insulting our biggest neighbor

Pablo Vaca Clarín

Javier Milei just picked a fight with Argentina's "main trading partner," said Pablo Vaca. Our right-wing president showed up to a presidential campaign rally in Brazil for Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the jailed former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Grandstanding as usual, Milei spoke at the rally, denouncing current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a "thief" and a "convict." His "thuggish words" were an inexcusable insult, and now Brazil has recalled its ambassador. Milei has been trying to show that he is top dog among the far-right agitators who have recently taken power across Latin America—in El Salvador, Chile, Peru,

Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Colombia—because he craves the attention of the "boss of bosses," Donald Trump. After all, Trump bailed him out last year with a $20 billion currency swap, and he might "need the favor again." But hitching Argentina's fortunes to these men is a "risky move." Bolsonaro may well lose to Lula in October, while Trump could face impeachment after the U.S. midterms. Milei is currently unpopular, with an approval rating hovering just under 40%. If he hopes to continue his libertarian economic plan, he'll have to "stop insulting" foreigners and concentrate on his own country.

ALGERIA

Are we now an Islamist state?

Akram Torki

The Africa Report (France)

Algerians are being bossed around by the "self-appointed 'morality police,'" said Akram Torki. Fundamentalist imams and social media provocateurs unleashed a wave of "inflammatory statements" this summer, attacking those—mostly women—doing things they saw as "incompatible with Islam." These extremists called for the creation of a Saudi-style vice squad to police girls who go out without male guardians. They denounced the International Day of Yoga as an un-Islamic import and even celebrated the deaths of 11 children in an orphanage fire because the children "had been born outside marriage." When baccalaureate results were released in mid-July, the "same self-appointed

preachers" insisted that congratulating a teenage girl for doing well on the exam was heretical. One father shown on TV "embracing his daughter in delight" was even "branded a deviant." Where will it end? Salafism, a puritanical movement in Sunni Islam, has been on the rise since the 1990s civil war, which ended with armed Islamists getting amnesty in exchange for renouncing violence. Authorities have been tolerating Salafist rhetoric because they don't want to provoke religious violence. But Algerian laws ban discrimination and hate speech, and these extremists are guilty of both. Why does speaking "in the name of religion offer a degree of immunity?"

FIFA: The end of soccer's Trump-friendly overlord?

Gianni Infantino finally went too far, said Samindra Kunti in The Times of India. The president of FIFA, soccer's nonprofit global governing body, has long been "blinded by his own greed." With his bonus tied to FIFA's revenues, he has relentlessly pursued expansion, boosting his total annual compensation to some $6 million. He sucked up to President Trump, even presenting him with a ridiculous peace prize, in order to "accommodate financial interests" in the most recent World Cup. Until now, he's gotten away with this behavior by doling out development funds among the 211 member associations to ensure their support. But last week, when he announced plans to "flog off" a $4.2 billion, 20% stake in tournament rights to private equity groups, his "obscene scheme backfired." One of his top aides quit on the spot, and regional soccer bodies in Europe, North and Central America, and Asia promptly rejected the proposal. The European body UEFA, whose teams have won five of the last six World Cups, threatened to boycott FIFA altogether. Faced with this "nuclear option," Infantino backed down and withdrew the proposal. Now he faces calls to resign.

If soccer is the world's religion, Infantino has been its pope—and he apparently believed "he was infallible," said John Carlin in Clarín (Argentina). At Trump's behest, he actually interfered in World Cup gameplay by rescinding the red-card suspension of a U.S. player. When that caused a global outcry, he dismissed his detractors as "consumed by hate and criticism." But his association with the U.S. president has tainted him. "Corrupted by Trump's profit-driven instincts," Infantino forgot that the

Infantino: 'Blinded by greed'

beautiful game "is not a product but a passion." This failed private-equity scheme had "Trump's sticky fingers all over it," said Rob Draper in The Guardian (U.K.). The investment fund that was to acquire the stake is run by Josh Kushner, the brother of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and the Kushner and Trump families are tightly bound in business together. As critics pointed out, the 20% minority stake for the Kushners would "in effect" have been "a controlling stake," because Infantino was likely to rubber-stamp whatever the Trump family wanted.

These unseemly optics have left Infantino "fighting for his life," said Ajit Vijaykumar in The National (United Arab Emirates). But he's not finished yet. Since taking over FIFA in 2016, he has twice won re-election unopposed, and he could still win a third and

final full term next year. After all, the "hugely profitable" 2026 World Cup brought in a record $15 billion, providing a "financial boost for many smaller federations." Many national teams in Africa and Asia feel they owe him "unwavering support." Yet there is now "an uprising within the football world" against Infantino, said Bart Zuidervaart in Trouw (Netherlands). FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour denounced his boss, saying he misled staff and that the plan to privatize the tournaments—which could have boosted Infantino's personal haul to some $40 million a year—was a "one-man project." At this point, Infantino is likely to be ousted when his term ends next year, if he even makes it that long. The "loss of confidence" in his leadership looks irreparable.

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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Best Columns: Europe

NEWS 15

European fires: A failure to adapt

“The images from France and Spain are nightmarish,” said Elena Erdmann and Benja Zehr in Die Zeit (Germany). “Orange skies, a colossal mass of smoke over the beach, vacationers fleeing the flames.” The Gironde Fire, which ripped across the countryside on France’s Atlantic coast near Bordeaux, scorched an area over 160 square miles. It was France’s largest wildfire on record and the first to generate “fire clouds,” thunderstorms of flame that can send incendiary winds whipping miles ahead of the burn line. European firefighters have never trained for such a phenomenon. In Spain, the flames raced toward Madrid faster than fire crews could keep up, forcing the government to declare a national emergency. Hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated, leaving behind pets and possessions. More fires raged in Portugal, Greece, Italy, even Germany. The continent is all dry tinder because of the wet spring and dry summer: Heavy spring rains fed thick grasses and shrubs that dried to a crisp in successive heat waves. And as the planet warms, such summers of fire will be our “new normal.”

This year must be the “turning point,” when we finally change our ways, said Le Monde (France) in an editorial. With Europe the fastest-warming continent, fire seasons will only get worse. Yet we continue to send our firefighters into these conflagrations unprepared, without adequate aerial support. Fully seven of the 12 Canadair “Super Scoopers” in France’s firefighting fleet are “out of service” this year, “despite warnings from pilots” that every craft would be needed. No wonder dozens of firefighters

France’s Gironde Fire, seen from Lacana

have been injured and several killed. Buying more planes is just the start, said Stefan Beutelsbacher in Die Welt (Germany). We should also be “thinning dense forests and creating firebreaks.” But our politicians—even the supposedly environmentalist Greens—would rather obsess over niche issues. As fire season loomed this year, the European Parliament couldn’t be bothered to discuss preparedness. It was too busy arguing about whether “plant-based meat substitutes should be allowed to be called veggie burgers.”

There’s no “magic bullet,” said Francisco Martín Azcárate in El País (Spain). Europe was once a patchwork of managed farmlands, with livestock that ate everything that could burn. But with urbanization, we abandoned the countryside and reforested, increasing our “exposure to risk” by nestling houses among the trees. It’s inexcusable, said Barbara Debusschere in De Morgen (Belgium). If the intelligence services warned us that terrorists were plotting an attack, and our leaders did nothing, “we would be white-hot with rage” and drive them out “with tar and feathers.” Yet scientists warned us decades ago that if we kept burning fossil fuels we would see headlines like “Thousands of Heat Deaths” and “Power Grid Collapses,” and here we are, having done nothing to prevent it. We should not normalize a world where rescue crews come across “the charred bodies of tourists” or find elderly people “dead in sweltering apartments,” yet we already have. “The most chilling thing about this sweltering summer is the lack of anger.” We are here because of our leaders’ “criminal negligence”—will we hold them to account?

LUXEMBOURG

China’s secret door into Europe

Jérémie Baruch and Manon Romain Le Monde (France)

UKRAINE

Our people are at risk in Poland

Anatoliy Martynovsky Evropeiska Pravda

China is using Luxembourg as a Trojan Horse to infiltrate Europe, said Jérémie Baruch and Manon Romain. More than 120 Luxembourg-based companies are actually controlled by the Chinese state, and they have spent tens of billions of dollars snapping up businesses elsewhere in Europe—including “leading technology companies and strategic real estate.” Linxens, a “French technology gem” that makes components for contactless payments and biometric passports, was bought by a “mysterious Luxembourg-based firm” that was created just before the deal and “operates out of a mailbox.” If you follow a “complex chain of shareholders”

Ukraine is always getting lectured about upholding “European values,” said Anatoliy Martynovsky. As we strive to get into the European Union, we’re told we have to be better at respecting minority rights. Why isn’t EU member Poland held to that standard? Poland is home to some 2.5 million Ukrainians, including some 1.5 million who came seeking “temporary protection” after the 2022 Russian invasion. These countrymen are now being subjected to a “powerful wave of xenophobia.” Just last week, three Poles in Wroclaw beat up a young man and his girlfriend simply for talking with Ukrainian accents, and that’s just one of nearly 200 such cases this year alone. We can

you find Tsinghua Unigroup, controlled by Beijing. Meanwhile, a sovereign wealth fund overseen by the People’s Bank of China has used a “web of Luxembourgian shell companies, all located at the same address,” to amass holdings that include a five-star hotel in Amsterdam as well as a pair of Brussels buildings that house the Belgian police and several EU agencies. The fund also has stakes in everything from ferry services to gas companies to a financial markets clearinghouse. China insists this is just “shrewd business.” But there’s an undeniable “espionage risk” with Beijing serving as “landlord to strategic institutions at the heart of Europe.”

partly blame Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who fueled anti-Ukraine radicalization recently by stripping Poland’s highest state honor from Volodymyr Zelensky in a dispute over World War II history. Even pro-Europe Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has been steadfast in supporting military aid to Ukraine, has been “slow to act” against ethnic bigotry at home. When Polish police do make arrests, convictions are rare and punishments weak. Brussels will have to remind Polish leaders that they have a duty under the EU charter to stamp out this rampant “Ukrainophobia.” The attackers aren’t the only ones who deserve to be punished. So do the “politicians and officials who incite hatred.”

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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16 NEWS

Talking Points

Noted

■ Public use of profanity is rising among politicians. Of the 692 instances in which presidents, vice presidents, and leading presidential candidates have deployed strong language since 1919, all but 87 occurred in the past decade. President Trump and former president Joe Biden account for 78% of the recent profanity, though Trump's language runs much hotter than that of Biden, who favored 'damn.' Axios

■ More Americans now use marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis than use alcohol, according to federal data. Some 21.4 million Americans use cannabis at least 300 days a year, up 21% from 2021. The number of Americans who drink alcohol daily or near daily dropped 24% in that period, to 17.2 million. New York Post

■ ICE detained more than 46,000 people for alleged immigration violations in July, a new monthly record. Arrests fell by nearly 8,000 in February after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens during the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, sparking a political backlash. Detentions started to rise sharply again in May. CBSNews.com

■ With more rockets launching each year, more space debris is raining down on Earth. The U.S. Space Force last year issued alerts for nearly 820 pieces of space junk re-entering the atmosphere, up from 110 a decade earlier. In 2024, a discarded piece of the International Space Station smashed into a Florida home. The New York Times

Corruption: A very profitable presidency

In the second Trump administration, 'the palms couldn't be greasier,' said Daniel W. Drezner in his Substack newsletter. A Wall Street Journal story last week revealed the epic scale of President Trump's corruption, detailing how he has extracted more than $800 million from companies and donors since returning to office. Top Trump fundraiser Meredith O'Rourke—whom he's nicknamed the 'princess of darkness'—will call companies on the president's orders and say, 'The boss wants this money.' O'Rourke has gotten results: SoftBank handed over $50 million for Trump's presidential library, Apple $25 million for his White House ballroom, and Meta $10 million for a Trump-aligned nonprofit. Donors understand that such investments might secure them more-favorable treatment. Trump last month renewed a tariff exemption for natural diamonds just weeks after a Belgian diamond group gifted him a watch-size 18-karat gold ring bearing two large diamond Ts. And all this graft is on top of the $2.2 billion Trump made in 2025 alone 'from a variety of shakedowns and grifts,' including cryptocurrency schemes and real estate deals with Arab tyrants.

The Trump family is about to rake in even more, said the Washington Examiner in an editorial. Its media venture last week launched Truth API, which for up to $100,000 a month will give subscribers'

Trump's bling ring

millisecond-faster access to the president's Truth Social posts. The ability to trade early on market-moving information can generate big profits—a Trump post in April 2025 'announcing a tariff pause sent the S&P 500 soaring 9.5%—and hedge funds and financial institutions will likely pay for the service, if only to stay competitive with other traders.' The whole concept is so corrupt you almost struggle to get your head around it,' said Jim Swift in The Bulwark. Trump is charging for something, knowledge of government actions, that should belong freely to Americans. 'This is pure rent-seeking.'

Cracking down on Trump's corruption should be a winning message for Democrats in the midterms, said James Downie in MS.now. A CNN/SSRS poll last week found that nearly two-thirds of Americans think Trump has 'gone too far' in 'pursuing his personal business interests.' But half of voters, including two-thirds of independents, think neither party is fighting the rot in Washington. After a decade of Trump's grifting, Democrats might find those numbers 'baffling.' But the public's frustration is understandable: Congress has not passed a major ethics reform in decades, and a congressional stock-trading ban 'remained in purgatory under Democratic and GOP-controlled Congresses.' Democrats can make Trump's graft an election-defining issue—but then they must do something about it.

The GOP: Rise of the 'Never Vancers'

The 'knives are out' for JD Vance, said Natalie Allison in The Washington Post. As he prepares for a likely White House run in 2028, the vice president is facing a growing barrage of attacks from self-declared 'Never Vance' Republicans, both online and in the opinion pages. Pro-Israel conservatives, including prominent commentators like Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin, have claimed that the populist Vance is 'unfit' for the top job because of his reported opposition to the Iran war and for 'looking weak' during peace negotiations with Tehran. And columnists in the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal—the voice of traditional conservatism—have slammed Vance for his skepticism of free-market capitalism and for echoing 'the anti-Israel left.' Vance's allies claim the veep is delighted to have earned the enmity of 'the pre-Trump GOP establishment,' said Mike Zapler in Axios. But the scale of the hostility shows his coronation as Trump's successor is no sure thing, and that many in the GOP would prefer Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the nominee in 2028.

The anti-Vance campaign is understandable, said Bret Stephens in The New York Times, because he 'is by far the worst person ever' to serve as vice president. Consider his recent appearance on Joe

Rogan's podcast: He talked conspiratorially about aliens and claimed without evidence that Jeffrey Epstein may have been a Mossad agent and that Israel is trying to 'manipulate' U.S. public opinion to keep the Iran war going. A 'callow and sinister opportunist,' Vance likely doesn't believe this bunk, but he knows the MAGA base will still lap it up. If it's a choice between Vance and Rubio in '28, I'll take Vance, said Ross Douthat, also in the Times. The vice president has at least tried to get the U.S. out of the Iran quagmire, while Rubio has been 'a profile in evasion, letting other officials take risks to either own the war or seek a peace while he keeps his options open.'

This fight is not just about Vance, said Kathy Gilsinan in Politico. The more traditional wing of the GOP is increasingly worried about 'the rising generation of young staffers in their party,' many of whom seem happy to spout antisemitic and racist rhetoric and have no loyalty to the historical GOP platform. If Vance—who last year dismissed a racist Young Republicans group chat as 'edgy jokes'—becomes the GOP's torchbearer in 2028, it raises the question of whom exactly he'll welcome into the fold, 'and what exactly they'll do with power once they get it.'

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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Talking Points

NEWS 17

Fauci: The GOP's Covid scapegoat

Covid killed more than 1.1 million Americans. But in the "twisted narrative" that has become Republican Party dogma, said Will Saletan in The Bulwark, "the villain isn't Trump, China, or even the virus. It's Anthony Fauci." At a Senate committee hearing last week, Republicans demonized and slandered Fauci, the now-retired director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who served the public

under seven presidents back to Ronald Reagan. Several senators suggested Fauci helped China create the virus in a lab, even though studies have traced its probable origin to animals in the Wuhan wet market. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna compared Fauci to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. Sen. Ron Johnson ludicrously suggested Covid vaccines were "experimental gene therapy" that killed millions of Americans. Fauci declined to answer questions on the grounds that committee chair Rand Paul had vowed to use his testimony to put him in prison. Why the witch hunt? For Trump's GOP, "someone has to be blamed for what went wrong in the pandemic, and it can't be the party's god-king."

Fauci and other health officials did make mistakes, said Megan McArdle in The Washington Post. The messaging on masking was muddled, and

Fauci: Republicans compared him to Mengele.

schools stayed closed longer than they had to. But public health experts "were doing the best they could in an unprecedented disaster." What we need is "the kind of systematic, non-partisan, and nonpunitive investigation" that followed previous national crises, not a mean-spirited "blame game" that serves only to make us less prepared for the next pandemic.

The official who really "bungled" the pandemic was the man in charge—Donald J. Trump, said Molly Olmstead in Slate. But with Republicans likely to "take a beating" in November, they're using the bogeyman Fauci as a tool to distract and energize their fractured base. As an alternative to Fauci and science, said Nick Catoggio in The Dispatch, Trump and his populist allies are offering "witch-doctor lunatics." Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied this week that Covid vaccines—which saved millions of lives—did "more good than harm" and claimed that at the height of the pandemic ICUs were "empty all over the country, including in New York." Rather than a serious effort to explore "what went wrong with Covid," Republicans are giving us crackpot conspiracy theories, quack miracle cures like ivermectin, and pseudo-experts "with brains worms. Literally."

Sex education: Bringing back teen pregnancy?

The Trump administration is recycling the failed message that teens should be sexually abstinent, said Jill Filipovic in Slate, and urging them "to forgo contraception, get married, and plan their lives around having babies." The Department of Health and Human Services recently canceled 53 of 67 grants, totaling $68 million, provided through the decades-old Teen Pregnancy Prevention program. The federal government will now provide grants only to sex education organizations that emphasize fertility over contraception, falsely depict the pill and hormonal contraception as dangerous, and urge teens to prepare for marriage and parenthood. The new guidelines ban any "content that encourages, normalizes, or promotes sexual activity for minors." Since TPP began in 2010, the birth rate for 15-to-19-year-olds has decreased by over 65%, reaching a record-low 11.7 births per 1,000 last year. Now HHS is "stripping money from the programs that sent teen pregnancy rates tumbling to put it toward those that tell teens that actually, reproduction is the goal."

But the teen birth rate has been declining since the 1990s, long before TPP, said Michael J. New in National Review. HHS tried to refocus grants toward abstinence education during Trump's first

term, but grantees sued and kept their funding. They're doing so again, and "conservatives should hope" Trump is more successful this time. The purpose of sex ed has changed, said Kat Rosenfield in The Free Press. Preventing unplanned teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease was a "reasonable and appropriate" goal when they were more common. But it doesn't make much sense "in a world where young people are barely having sex" compared with previous generations.

The new sex-ed policy is purely political, said Danielle Han in Jezebel. "Eliminating comprehensive sex ed was one of the goals of Project 2025," the blueprint for Trump's second term. Anti-abortion activists have sought to "change the curricula to stigmatize abortion" and teach young people that life begins at conception. Legal abortion, contraception, and comprehensive sex ed helped bring the teen pregnancy rate to this historic low, said Lisa Needham in Daily Kos. But "conservative creeps are actually sad that teen birth rates are down." They aim to boost population growth—"well, population growth for white people, which is what the disgusting 'pronatalist' movement is really about." Under Trump, sex ed now amounts to "more teen pregnancies, please."

Wit & Wisdom

"Politicians can forgive almost anything in the way of abuse; they can forgive subversion, revolution, being contradicted, exposed as liars, even ridiculed, but they can never forgive being ignored."

Auberon Waugh, quoted in the Philippine Daily Inquirer

"When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, 'No, I went to films.'" Quentin Tarantino, quoted in The Knowledge

"To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone." Reba McEntire, quoted in Good Housekeeping

"If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest."

Thomas Jefferson, quoted in Commonplace

"Every intelligent boy of 16 is a Socialist. At that age, one does not see the hook sticking out of the rather stodgy bait."

George Orwell, quoted in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette

"America has the best politicians money can buy." Will Rogers, quoted in Moneywise

"If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog."

Martha Stewart, quoted in Veranda

Poll Watch

■ 73% of Americans say President Trump has not "paid enough attention to the country's most important problems." 67% believe Trump's military decisions in Iran have hurt the U.S., and 74% say the president does not have a clear plan for winning or ending the war. CNN/SSRS

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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18

NEWS

Pick of the Week's Cartoons

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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Pick of the Week's Cartoons

NEWS 19

For more political cartoons, visit:

theweek.com/cartoons

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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20 NEWS

Technology

Robot ban: Why the FCC fears your Roomba

Robotics is the “latest front” in the “intensifying tech rivalry between Washington and Beijing,” said Steve Lohr and Xinyun Wu in The New York Times. The Federal Communications Commission last week said it would begin restricting imports of “humanoid and animal-like robots,” saying they could “function as Trojan Horses” for data collection and spy on Americans in their homes and offices. China called the measure a provocation and warned that it would retaliate. Its producers “dominate the global humanoid robot industry” to such a degree that “it has become nearly impossible to build a competitive humanoid robot without Chinese-made components.” But advanced robots are becoming “strategically important in an economy increasingly dependent on artificial intelligence.” AI startups are now experimenting with physical or embodied intelligence—essentially robots with AI capabilities—in order to teach their models about the physical world.

Popular household devices are getting caught in the crossfire, said Sean Hollister in The Verge. While the prohibition specifically calls out “humanoid robots” and “quadrupeds”—such as robot dogs—it extends to any “software-controlled robot that travels over the ground, weighs more than 4.4 pounds (including any dock), can perceive its environment, and has wireless connectivity.” That rounds up robot lawnmowers, sidewalk delivery robots, many warehouse automation machines—and even Roombas. Yes, the popular robot vacuum cleaner was acquired

by a Chinese manufacturer in January, putting it on the FCC’s chopping block.

Are these Trojan Horses?

The ban covers only new models of foreign-made robots, said Jeremy Hsu in Ars Technica, so customers can still keep their old ones or buy older versions. And it should “theoretically encourage more U.S. and foreign companies to set up manufacturing facilities in the U.S.,” home to several fast-growing startups like Agility Robotics, Figure AI, and Boston Dynamics. But that’s not always the case. The FCC banned Chinese-made drones earlier this year, too, and it has yet to motivate a “competitive mass-market consumer-drone producer” to set up shop in the U.S.

The fears about Chinese humanoid robots are fantastically overblown, said Thomas Black in Bloomberg. Reading headlines, you’d think China is building robot armies ready to serve meals, fold laundry, and steal jobs. Hardly. Robots today work best at “predictable, repetitive, high-volume tasks,” like painting or welding on a factory line. And even then they can be hit or miss. It’s beyond their ability to do multiple tasks at once, making them largely unhelpful in homes, stores, hospitals, or even construction sites. After a lot of hype, businesses are now realizing these limitations. U.S. industrial robot orders have already fallen from a peak of 44,196 in 2022 down to 36,766 last year. “The vision of an expansion of robots into everyday tasks and life is there.” But we’re nowhere near that reality.

Innovation of the week

Amazon’s pedals-free, no-steering-wheel autonomous vehicle was given the green light last week to begin charging customers for rides, said Ellie Davis in The Wall Street Journal. The Zoox, which “resembles a toaster on wheels,” has been offering free lifts in Las Vegas and San Francisco, where more than half a million passengers have tested it. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s approval is the first for a self-driving vehicle “that lacks conventional controls.” Its unique design—which allows for bidirectional driving—created “more regulatory hurdles,” because the NHTSA’s safety standards “are structured to regulate cars with human drivers.” The cars have remote operators that, according to regulations, are required to be located in the U.S. Tesla has been developing a similar two-seater Cybercab “that doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals.”

Bytes: What’s new in tech

■ Data centers even pollute in space

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ plans to build “orbital data centers” are facing new pushback from environmentalists, said Tom Perkins in The Guardian. Three environmental nonprofits, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Earthjustice, and DarkSky International, submitted a petition last month to the Federal Communications Commission to place a pause on licenses for space data center projects, arguing that the plans “violate federal law” because their potential impact hasn’t been assessed as is required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Already, the scientists say, “pollution from satellites”—which can release black soot, aluminum oxides, and other metals when decommissioned—as well as from “rockets burning up upon re-entry appears to be accumulating in the stratosphere at alarming levels.” Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are racing to add thousands more satellites to power AI data centers in space, with “very little understanding of the consequences.”

■ xAI tried to block nudity ban

A federal judge denied Elon Musk’s request to overturn a Minnesota law banning “nudity” apps, said Lora Kolodny and Jonathan Vanian in CNBC.com. The first-of-its-kind law, which passed in April and went into effect this week, “targets

apps and websites that give people the ability to generate nonconsensual sexualized imagery, levying $500,000 fines each time a user creates explicit deepfakes.” Musk’s AI company, xAI, sued the state, arguing that the law was “clumsy” and violates the First Amendment. A judge left open the possibility that the court could still pause the law later. xAI came under fire in January after its Grok AI chatbot allowed users to create and share sexualized images of real people, though the company said it “strictly prohibits” such images.

■ A new card in your digital wallet

Banks are trying to take on digital payment giants like Apple Pay and PayPal, said Dalvin Brown in The Wall Street Journal. “On a small but growing number of sites,” you might see the brand name Paze at checkout. It is part of Early Warning Services, a company owned by seven of the largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. “The firm’s more popular product is Zelle, which sends money between customer accounts.” Paze’s pitch is that it “operates directly through bank and credit-union mobile apps.” You don’t need to create an account; customers simply “activate the wallet and eligible cards that their bank has already loaded into Paze.” Banks are hoping to wean customers off Apple, which collected about $750 million in fees from U.S. card issuers last year.

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Health & Science

NEWS 21

When every tribe had its own tongue

Humans today speak roughly 7,500 languages, from Mandarin to Spanish to a wealth of Indigenous tongues. While that may sound like a lot, we likely had as much as 10 times that many just a few thousand years ago, reports Smithsonian. A new study estimates that we once communicated in anywhere from 20,000 to 75,000 distinct languages, during what researchers call a linguistic “golden age.” Because most ancient tongues vanished without a trace, the team reconstructed how human speech rose and fell by analyzing population estimates and ethnographic data stretching back 12,000 years, and by looking at current hunter-gatherer peoples, each of which tends to

have its own language. Before farming took hold, they concluded, people across the world spoke between 4,500 and 6,200 languages; once crops and livestock were domesticated, populations swelled and languages multiplied. This diversity crested between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 1000, then fell away as expanding empires spread their dominant languages, wiping out what existed earlier through conquest and even pathogens. Today, about four languages die off each year, and as many as 1,500 could disappear by the end of the century. The languages that persist, the researchers say, may not be the fittest so much as the luckiest, spoken by populations that happen to grow and spread. “Are there people who developed

From top left: Hebrew, Greek, Mandarin, Tamil

languages with some traits that we can barely imagine now?” asks geneticist Chiara Barbieri, who wasn’t involved in the study. “It makes your head spin.”

The black spots are melanoma.

A contagious cancer among fish

Scientists have discovered something disturbing in a lake on the Vermont-Quebec border: a skin cancer that’s transmissible, spreading from catfish to catfish. During a routine census in Lake Mempfremagog, biologists kept pulling up brown bullhead catfish disfigured by oily black streaks on their fins, their gills, and even smeared across their eyes. Just over a quarter of the catch was affected. At first the team suspected a pollutant, then a virus, but tests turned up neither. Eventually, they worked out that the lesions were melanomas, which was odd because catfish burrow in the mud, away from the sun. The answer lay in genetics: The tumors barely resembled the fish carrying them yet closely resembled one another, a sign that the lesions are clones descended from a single cancer that has been hopping from host to host for generations. Exactly how remains unclear; scientists suspect the fish may scratch one another with the sharp spines behind their fins while spawning. Such transmissible cancers—seen in just a few other animals, such as dogs and clams—defy the usual rule that a tumor dies with its host. “The cancer wants to survive,” Vincent Lynch, an evolutionary biologist who wasn’t involved in the research, tells NPR.org. “It’s got a life of its own.”

Ditch your fallopian tubes?

Most ovarian cancers don’t actually start in the ovaries. Around 80% of them, including nearly all the fatal cases, are actually cancers of the fallopian tubes, the slender ducts that ferry eggs to the uterus. That is significant, reports The New York Times, because ovarian cancer is among the deadliest malignancies. Screening methods generally can’t catch it early enough to make a difference, and by the time symptoms like bloating appear, it has usually spread. Removing the fallopian tubes, though, removes 80% of the cancer risk. The procedure takes just five minutes and can be tacked onto almost any abdominal surgery, from a hysterectomy to a hernia repair. The American Cancer Society is planning a campaign to spread the word, but so far, few women are aware of this easy preventive measure. One oncologist looked at old records and realized that fully a quarter of her cancer patients had undergone an earlier surgery—they could have had the tubes removed back then, had the option been offered. This is “one of the most critical discoveries in my lifetime,” says oncologist Rebecca Stone. It should be “standard of care.”

Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse

Astronomers have long suspected that Betelgeuse—the ruddy shoulder of Orion, some 650 light-years away—might be coupled with a partner star, because skywatchers have logged its cycles of dimming and brightening for more than 1,000 years. It has a primary cycle of about 400 days and another cycle of some 2,100 days, and the longer cycle is believed to be caused by a companion revolving around it. Now, using the Very Large Telescope in Chile, a research team has captured images of what appears to be that second star, which they call Betelgeuse B. They were able to see it only because they pointed the scope at a time when the companion was calculated to be farthest away from Betelgeuse A, and because B turned out to be bigger and brighter than predicted. Even more definite confirmation should come in about a year, when the companion swings to the other side of Betelgeuse A, but the researchers are already elated. “These are among the best moments in science,” team leader Miguel Montargés of the Observatoire de Paris tells Space.com. “Seeing something new, unexpected.”

How whales sleep

Sperm whales doze in one of nature’s strangest poses: hanging motionless below the surface like giant vertical logs, heads tipped sometimes up, sometimes down toward the deep. But how do they hold that position without bobbing upward or drifting sideways? The answer, reports The Times (U.K.), is that they blow bubbles. Whales are naturally buoyant, thanks to the waxy spermaceti oil packed into their heads, and as they sleep the air in their lungs gradually expands, threatening to float them to

Gently bubbling

the surface. To counter that force, they let out small puffs of gas from their blowholes, trimming their buoyancy until they hover almost motionless. Researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland made the discovery by fixing suction-cup tags to 42 whales, which they used to record movement and sound. “It is particularly fascinating they are able to make these fine-scale adjustments while they are thought to be asleep,” says co-author Patrick Miller, “a challenge totally alien to terrestrial mammals like us humans.”

Cathy O. Shutterstock, Vermont Fish & Wildlife, Getty

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ARTS

Review of Reviews: Books

Book of the week

The Frenchmen: Or, My Life in Theory

by Emily Eakin (Penguin, $35)

"It's tempting to read The Frenchmen as atonement," said Dayna Tortorici in The New Yorker. Some 22 years ago, author Emily Eakin betrayed one of the passions of her youth when she was working at The New York Times and she signed off on an obit for Jacques Derrida that ran under a headline dismissing the French philosopher as "abstruse." Just a decade earlier, Eakin had been a devotee of the post-structuralists, the cohort of mostly French, mostly male thinkers who ignited a 1980s fad that had literature students at many of America's top universities parroting the ideas that all meaning is contingent and words can't be trusted. Eakin, who caught the "theory" bug as a Harvard undergrad, was pursuing a Ph.D. when she finally shook it. But was the entire movement nonsense? In her engaging new book, "Eakin argues persuasively that it wasn't."

Not that Eakin is blind to her subjects'

Foucault, Derrida, and Barthes: Ivory tower rebels

many flaws, said Laura Miller in Slate. "Much of the entertainment offered by The Frenchmen comes from the tea Eakin spills on men who were once presented as disembodied monuments." Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, and Louis Althusser were all "narcissistic, imperious, and histrionic—that is, they were very French." In Eakin's colorful character sketches, "only Roland Barthes comes off as remotely appealing." Theory's long downfall began around the time Eakin bought in, when it was revealed in 1987 that one of its stars, the Belgian-born Yale professor Paul de Man, had expressed antisemitic views while writing for a Nazi-affiliated newspaper during World War II. But while Eakin tired of theory, don't expect her to join the critics on the Left and Right

who remain eager to label post-structuralism absurd. "It taught us a new way to think," she says. "Be skeptical. Be alert. Pay very close attention. Beware political claims posing as timeless truths."

As Eakin details, the battles over theory weren't confined to academia, said Jonathan Derbyshire in the Financial Times. Philosopher Allan

Bloom seemed to have the post-structuralists in mind when he railed against the influence of despairing European thinkers in The Closing of the American Mind, a 1987 best seller that remains a cornerstone of the Right's case against American universities. Eakin isn't afraid to admit that theory's allure was its countercultural energy, said Geoff Shullenberger in Compact. She writes about her youthful indoctrination "with self-satirizing flair." But when she defends theory's luminaries, I can't agree that their insistence that we vigorously question every story we're told can help us recapture a sense of the common good in this moment. "Their imperative—to deconstruct—has been followed all too faithfully, for too long."

Novel of the week

Famous Men

by Julie Buntin (Random House, $30)

Julie Buntin's "audacious" second novel "sets up and then subverts our expectations of the artistic coming-of-age narrative," said Tajja Isen in Defector. Wilhelmina "Will" Miles, is looking back on the sexual relationship she entered into at age 23 with Nathaniel, a Pulitzer-winning 62-year-old poet and professor she'd hoped would be a mentor. Despite the familiarity of such couplings in fiction, "the dynamic between Will and Nathaniel feels original and consistently electric." Each is exploiting the other, and they are also "deeply lonely people who cultivate a genuine intimacy that hovers—compellingly, unsettlingly—between the familial, the sexual, and the intellectual." Buntin, whose 2017 debut novel won wide praise, "has outdone herself," said Leigh Haber in The Boston Globe. In Famous Men, "each sentence is diamond cut," and we read each one wondering if Will's account is making the relationship sound healthier than it was. While tackling the issues raised by the #MeToo movement with "rare nuance and insight," this "superb" bildungaroman also explores the dynamics of ambition and sexuality "with the pulse of an intricate thriller."

Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast

by Pamela Colloff (Knopf, $32)

"Though its subtitle suggests true crime, Catch the Devil is by no means your typical true-crime book," said Ted Conover in The New York Times. It focuses on not a killer but a snitch: a con man named Paul Skalnik who may well have set a record

when, between 1978 and 1987, he provided testimony against jail mates that helped win more than 34 convictions and landed four men on death row. "The problem is that much, even most, of his testimony appears to have been invented, and some of those he helped convict were almost certainly not guilty." And while the presence of such an unusual villain makes Catch the Devil an "engrossing" read, "the public policy implications make it important."

Author Pamela Colloff, an investigative reporter for ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, focuses on an "appalling" Florida murder case, said Kristen Martin

in NPR.org. In 1986, when prosecutors failed to win a death-penalty conviction for a man who'd killed a 14-year-old female hitchhiker, they turned to Skalnik to manufacture a death-penalty case against the killer's roommate. Skalnik obliged, reporting that jail mate Jim Dailey confessed to him that he'd stabbed the girl dozens of times. Despite a lack of other evidence against him, Dailey has since spent nearly 40 years on death row, and Colloff's "cinematic telling of this case serves to highlight the potentially fatal consequences of a criminal legal system that is more concerned with securing convictions than determining the truth and delivering justice."

While reading about Dailey's plight is agonizing, said Barbara Spindel in The Wall Street Journal, "Colloff's rendering of Skalnik is chilling." An unrepentant liar whose rap sheet included sexual assault of a child, he died without admitting to Colloff that he'd ever traded false testimony for lenient punishment of his own crimes. In fact, Colloff came to believe he saw her merely as his latest potential mark. A reader can't help share her revulsion against him as well as the system that supercharged the impact of his lies. "It's unconscionable that Dailey continues to await execution. Equally disturbing are the failings of the justice system that keep him on death row."

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The Book List

ARTS 23

Best books...chosen by David Thomson

Film critic and historian David Thomson is the author of more than 25 books, including The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, now in its sixth edition. In his latest book, A Sudden Flicker of Light, Thomson proposes that cinema has in fact been a damaging cultural force.

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West (1939). West's novel fixes on two groups: the freaks and hustler failures who dream of getting into pictures, and the Los Angeles crowd that longs to follow the American dream. The result is a scary portrait of a culture going crazy and a city ready to burn.

The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1941). Fitzgerald's last, unfinished novel is not so good as a narrative, but it offers a superb glimpse of how a brilliant young head of production runs a studio. The character is based on MGM's Irving Thalberg, who was never impressed by Fitzgerald as a screenwriter.

Picture by Lillian Ross (1952). Reportage from the set of The Red Badge of Courage, John Huston's film adaptation of Stephen Crane's Civil War novel. Ross, then a young writer at The New Yorker, records all the wild show-off talk and Huston's battles with the studio. The world had never before heard how the moguls spoke, or thought. Those moguls were horrified when they read themselves in cold print.

The Deer Park by Norman Mailer (1955). Still the best novel about love, lust, identity, money, honor, power, producers, and actors. Set against the backdrop of Hollywood and the pleasure ground of Palm Springs, Mailer's roman a clef follows a war hero who toys with selling his life story to the movies.

My Face for the World to See by Alfred Hayes (1958). A jaded screenwriter sees a young woman about to drown herself on the beach. He rescues her and then, against his smarter nature, falls for her; she is a would-be actress who drags him into her bitter melodrama. Hayes was successful with his own screenwriting, but it's clear from this novel that he had some contempt for the craft.

The Golden Hour by Matthew Specktor (2025). Matthew's father, Fred Specktor, has been a top agent at CAA, the talent agency, since the 1950s. This book is a beautifully written memoir about growing up with the movies, making them, and trying to lead one's life in the glow spilling from the screen.

Author of the week

Leila Slimani

For Leila Slimani, fiction is the best way to deal with the truth, said Terry Gross in NPR.org. Before becoming a literary star with her Prix Goncourt-winning 2016 novel, published in the U.S. as The Perfect Nanny, the French Moroccan author was a full-time journalist growing frustrated with the form's limitations. "I wanted to write about a different kind of

truth—the truth of emotion, the truth of our human condition," she says. The Perfect Nanny reframed a

horrible true story: the murder of two children in New York City by a nanny who cared for them. In 2017, Slimani began writing a decades-spanning trilogy based on her own family's history, completing it with I'll Take the Fire, a new novel that features characters based on her mother, her father, and herself. "This novel," she says, "was very, very, very, very difficult to write."

Also of interest...in double vision

Son of Nobody

by Yann Martel (Norton, $30)

In his first novel in 10 years, Booker Prize winner Yann Martel "sets himself an epic challenge," said Nilanjana Roy in the Financial Times. Can he create a compelling version of the ancient epic poem a classicist has discovered, and can he persuade you to toggle between that poem, written by a common soldier, and the footnotes written by the novel's contemporary protagonist? Martel's ambition largely pays off, making Son of Nobody "perhaps his most beguiling novel after Life of Pi."

As If

by Isabel Waidner (FSG, $18)

All of Isabel Waidner's novels are "suffused with cosmic bafflement and dark humor," said Dustin Illingworth in The New York Times. Her latest "plays to these strengths." Two strangers who look like twins cross paths in London and, feeling themselves at dead ends, swap lives. One is an actor, the other a family man, and they "keep things moving briskly" while alternating as narrators. And amid all the comic misunderstandings, though, lies "a subtle exploration of midlife crisis."

Ghost-Eye

by Amitav Ghosh (FSG, $29)

"The strangeness of Ghost-Eye will keep readers on their toes," said Sam Sacks in The Wall Street Journal. After introducing a 3-year-old girl in 1960s Calcutta who has memories of a past life, author Amitav Ghosh "generates suspense by teasing out the history of this life." But as we watch a present-day narrator piece together the story, Ghosh ties it to the notion that humanity's destructiveness will be arrested by supernatural forces, making Ghost-Eye seem "an exercise in wishful thinking."

Air

by Christian Kracht (Liveright, $25)

"The reader experiences Christian Kracht's new novel in a state of absorbed bewilderment," said Houman Barekat in The Guardian. How, we wonder, will its alternating plot threads—one about a Norwegian interior decorator who disappears, the other a medieval adventure with mythic overtones—possibly come together? The answer is somehow tied to a data center that has jumbled time. "Air is perhaps best understood as a parable—a warning, as it were, from the present."

Part of the challenge for Slimani was writing about her parents, said John Self in The Irish Times. Her father, a former finance minister in Morocco, had his career ruined when Slimani was 12 by embezzlement charges that weren't cleared until after his death. "One should always believe," she says, "that the book will be beautiful enough to be accepted by those you betrayed." Revisiting her young adulthood, when she moved to Paris, was even harder. "I think what made me sad is to see how much illusion we had about the future," she says. "We believed so much in democracy, in progress." Now that the trilogy is done, Slimani must also accept that even in fiction she was unable to put to rest all her conflicted feelings about immigration and identity. Still, she's ready to move on. "It's important in life and literature," she says, "to accept the idea that some pain is not healable."

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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24 ARTS

Review of Reviews: Art & Music

Exhibit of the week

Fairfield Porter: What Everyone Knows

Art Students League, New York City, through Aug. 18

"If you saw a lone painting of Fairfield Porter's in a junk shop, you'd find it perfectly pleasing and mediocre," said Zachary Fine in The New Yorker. Porter (1907–75) was "a painter of limited technical skill," and during his creative prime, in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, he "mostly depicted coastal landscapes and living rooms." What's more, his portraits of people were "almost comically bad." But this heir to a Chicago real estate fortune, who split his time between a private Maine island and the seaside village of Southampton, N.Y., used color like few artists before or since. Inspired by the work of his friend Willem de Kooning, he started treating the colors in each of his landscapes or interiors as "packets of immediate sensation." In the first large-scale New York retrospective of his work in decades, 35 of his paintings currently fill a single room, "concentrating his palette of lime greens and creamy yellows and oxblood reds into one bright, soul-cleansing burst."

Porter's 'Islands' (1968)

"The highlights are too numerous to name," said Brian P. Kelly in The Wall Street Journal. But the display is bookended by two telling self-portraits, the first "a study in diffidence" painted around 1950 and the latter, created about 18 years later, showing him as an accomplished man, calm and confident as he stares straight at us. Porter had blossomed from struggling artist to successful poet, painter, and art critic in the interim, and those three roles complemented one another. After all, "the poet and the critic share an appreciation for the

beauty of the commonplace, an understanding of how the everyday can be extraordinary when captured in a certain way." Porter "synthesized feelings and understanding into a luminous whole, his subjects the people, places, and things that were closest at hand." In doing so, "he proved that there was beauty where one was inclined to behold it."

At times, Porter's canvases "feel like artifacts from the coastal cold-roast elite's secret psychedelic period," said Dan Chiasson in The New York Review. "Brushstrokes seem at times still wet to the touch, trailing off like vapor before suddenly detonating a bluster of peach or indigo." Amid the bursts of color and WASP-y trappings, however, run darker veins. The Screen Porch, a large 1964 group portrait, captures Porter's two daughters; his wife, Anne; and the poet James Schuyler, who lived with the family for 11 years as Porter's on-and-off lover. The girls stand awkwardly near a seated Schuyler. From the right, outside the screened porch and thus "relegated to the bugs' realm," a "far from amused looking" Anne approaches. For years, the painting hung in the Maine house, dispiriting family members who recognized the scene's itchy dynamics. They nicknamed it "Four Ugly People."

Ariana Grande

Petal

★★★★

"Does Ariana Grande still love being a pop star?" asked Lindsay Zoladz in The New York Times. On Petal, the 33-year-old showbiz vet trades in her "signature effervescence" and "leans into some-

thing grittier, spikier, perhaps even villainous." Case in point: "Hate That I Made You Love Me," which seems to be "a barbed song about her own most obsessive fans" and all but heralded Grande's recent announcement that she intends to soon step back from the spotlight for a time. Petal suggests that Grande's "light and carefree" public persona has been "a carefully constructed form of armor," said Aimee Cliff in Pitchfork. The three-time Grammy winner can be brilliant here when she tells it like it is, as on "Stay," which nearly equals her career high. "Thank U, Neet." More often, though, the album plays like "a tame reimagining" of past work, with "Big Feelings" a "defanged" version of 2016's "Dangerous Woman" while "Never Get Over Me" suggests 2014's "Problem," only "shot with a tranquilizer dart." Grande is trying to make a statement with songwriting that "lacks urgency and precision." That only makes her seem more elusive.

Shaboozey

The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales

★★★★

On his new album, Shaboozey refuses to be merely "the guy who had that one big bar song," said Jon Dolan in Rolling Stone. In 2024, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" topped the U.S. singles chart

for a record-tying 19 weeks and has garnered 1.75 billion Spotify streams overall. Now, while continuing to infuse the sound of mainstream country with hip-hop, the Virginia-raised artist, 31, has created a concept album about a sheriff's daughter who, while pursuing vengeance for her father's death, falls in love with one of his killers. It's "a romance tucked inside an outlaw epic, right on par for a guy who does well with genre mash-ups." The 20-track album is certainly a swing for the fences, said Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. There are "ambient and Pink Floyd-y" interstitial tracks that feature plot-advancing narration by Jamie Foxx, Sam Elliott, and Teyana Taylor. "Bullets and Blades" is "a strikingly beautiful ballad" in which Shaboozey croons with "glowering power" while dueting with R&B star Kehlani. And while his vocals are still liveliest when he gives them a hip-hop spin, his "strike rate" is high here even when he's taking chances.

Nick Hakim

I Can See

★★★★

Nick Hakim's fourth album is "R&B from a different planet," said Jem Aswad in Variety. The New York City-based artist continues working in the vein of stoner R&B, a subgenre that

Frank Ocean and Dijon also ply. But even by his cohort's standards, Hakim favors an "unusually hazy" sound in which "vocals and instruments waft in and out of the mix like music from a passing car or sounds from the apartment next door." That doesn't mean the music's not accessible. "Real Here Now" is "one of the most gorgeous R&B songs you'll hear all year, almost like an Usher song from a parallel universe." In these "spectral" songs, created with an assist from Dijon and Bon Iver producer Andrew Sarlo, the sound design is "so immaculate it becomes an instrument unto itself," said Chris DeVille in Stereogum. They at once evoke "holograms and dusty old vinyl," and because they were written by Hakim just after the end of a long-term relationship, they're "possessed by a profound mournfulness." Still, Hakim "breathes soothing grace into these tracks." They "might render you a puddle, but they're just as likely to lead you into a transcendent calm."

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

Fairfield Porter/AP/Shaboozey Collection

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Review of Reviews: Film

ARTS 25

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

Directed by Jane Schoenbrun (R)

A queer filmmaker reboots a problematic horror franchise.

"There is absolutely no one else, alive or dead, who could have made a feature that looks and feels like this one," said Ryan Lattanzio in IndieWire. Jane Schoenbrun, the non-binary trans director of I Saw the TV Glow, has followed up that acclaimed 2024 release with an "often spellbinding" film that's part slasher send-up, part "future cult lesbian classic."

Hacks' Hannah Einbinder plays Kris, a queer indie filmmaker who's been handed a chance to direct a reboot of a 1980s slasher series whose mass killer was gender-fluid. But when Kris decides she'd like the final girl from the original film to appear in the reboot, the "entrancingly sexy" pas de deux that ensues steers the tale in a surprising direction. Once Einbinder and co-star Gillian Anderson are brought together, said Richard Brody in The New Yorker, the

Einbinder as Schoenbrun's stand-in

heart of this movie becomes a "sharply written" two-hander, "with plenty of scope for the two leads to shine." Anderson's Billy lives like a recluse, but she's funny and insightful, and she helps Kris discard her sexual inhibitions while Schoenbrun is simultaneously weaving in "gleefully gory" scenes from the fictional earlier Camp Miasma movies.

Anderson, incidentally, "appears to be enjoying her foray into sapphic high-camp tremendously," said Jessica Kiang in Variety. But then every actor here seems to be having fun, even as the movie's second half "uses the silliness of slasher convention to get to some fairly profound places," particularly about culturally constructed obstacles to women's experience of pleasure. The result is Schoenbrun's "most accomplished, most persuasive, and most playful movie yet."

The Samurai and the Prisoner

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Not rated)

A leader under siege must solve a series of murders.

The "detached, dispassionate" tenor of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's new film "recalls the work of another Kurosawa," said Tim Grierson in the Los Angeles Times. A hit this summer in Japan, The Samurai and the Prisoner shares with Akira Kurosawa's Ran "not just a feudal-Japan setting but also an older man's dim view of our species' vain stabs at glory through conquest." It's

1578, and a seasoned warrior played by Masahiro Motoki is trapped in his besieged castle after defying a fearsome warlord. But fans of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's great horror films "may be thrown off by his new movie's relatively muted approach." They may also be thrown by the title, said Jordan Mintzer in The Hollywood Reporter. This isn't a samurai

Motoki turns sleuth.

film but "a refined murder mystery dressed up in feudal garb." Inside the castle, an unknown killer begins racking up victims, and Motoki's clan leader keeps turning to one of his prisoners for help. "This sounds like the perfect setup for a suspenseful feudal thriller—think Knives Out meets Throne of Blood." Unfortunately, four murders occur, and the story "winds up

repeating the same scenario each time." Be patient, though, because Kurosawa "choreographs his material with grace," constructing an intricate drama that's "as psychologically rich as his best work," said Nick Schager in the Daily Beast. It "reaffirms Kurosawa's standing as international cinema's preeminent jack of all trades. Simply put, he can do anything."

A Spider-Man surprise: Hollywood roars back

"Perhaps reports of moviegoing's death have been greatly exaggerated," said Katcy Stephan in the New York Post. Spider-Man: Brand New Day surprised many Hollywood observers last week when it scored an all-time record $360 million opening weekend in North America, dethroning 2019's Avengers: Endgame and helping make the weekend's worldwide haul for all movies the most lucrative in history. The Odyssey, in its third week, chipped in $51 million at home and $136 million globally. Throw in contributions from fellow summer hits Toy Story 5, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Obsession and you have "the healthiest box office year in recent memory," with theaters returning to, or even outpacing, pre-pandemic numbers.

So how did this latest Spider-Man avoid the

Box office champs Holland and Zendaya

superhero fatigue that's bedeviled movies such as this summer's Supergirl! asked Scott Mendelson in Puck. In short, "it's the star power." Tom Holland and Zendaya, the real-life couple who've played Peter Parker and his longtime girlfriend, MJ, since 2017, have together hit a peak in popularity. Sony has meanwhile downplayed the movie's ties to the declining Marvel Cinematic Universe

and played up how a sacrifice Peter made in the previous Spider-Man movie put the relationship to a supreme test.

For years, it was assumed by industry watchers that young people who've grown up in the streaming era would never embrace the theatrical experience, said Rebecca Rubin and Brent Lang in Variety. "Everyone had it wrong. Younger movie-goers are driving the comeback." A recent Fandango report revealed that 87% of Gen Zers had seen at least one movie in a theater during the previous year compared with 70% of Gen Xers and 58% of Baby Boomers. With new Dune, Avengers, and Hunger Games entries due at year's end, 2026 is expected to look a lot like the pre-Covid era, which means, "yes, people have fallen back in love with the silver screen."

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

Mall/Event: Jane Schoenbrun; Columbia Pictures/Event

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26 ARTS

Television

Streaming tips

American Odysseys

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

As The Odyssey continues its mega-run, consider revisiting the Coen Brothers' rip-roaring, Americana riff on Homer's epic. George Clooney's Ulysses McGill flees a Mississippi chain gang and, with shackled companions in tow, encounters sirens, one-eyed giants, and more on an antiheroic journey home. $4 on demand

Easy Rider

The road trips of the Beat Generation give way to the hippie version in this definitive 1969 counterculture epic. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper co-star as Harley-riding longhairs who land a big score in a cocaine deal and take off on a cross-country motorcycle trip into the American soul. $4 on demand

Into the Wild

Emile Hirsch stars in this adaptation of Jon Krakauer's 1996 nonfiction best seller. He portrays Christopher McCandless, an upper-middle-class college graduate who abandoned his material possessions, gave away his savings, and hitchhiked to Alaska in search of freedom and a simpler life. $4 on demand

Nomadland

Not all journeys are voluntary. Frances McDormand earned an Oscar for her compelling performance as a woman who loses her home and job during the Great Recession and begins a new life among nomads in the American West. Netflix

Wild

A strong, sensitive adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's 2012 memoir traces the trials and joys of her arduous solo hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. Reese Witherspoon gives a soulful performance as Strayed. $4 on demand

Old Joy

Kelly Reichardt's spare but beautiful 2006 drama follows two old friends who, while on a road trip in the Pacific Northwest, confront the reality that their paths have diverged. Will Oldham and Daniel London co-star. HBO Max

The Week's guide to what's worth watching

Reacher

Any New Yorker will tell you that picking the wrong subway car can have consequences. That proves true for Jack Reacher as Season 4 of this thriller series opens with a fellow passenger handing him a hard drive just before killing herself, pulling him into a mystery he must solve. Alan Ritchson's beefy former military policeman doles out some beatings, of course, as he eludes pursuers and digs into a wide-ranging conspiracy that appears to be the work of a corrupt presidential contender. Wednesday, Aug. 12, Prime

Hollywood Crime Story:

The Mob Takes Over the Movies

Hollywood has long been enamored with mobsters, but the attraction runs both ways. This three-part docuseries examines how organized crime infiltrated the business and held the industry in its grip for decades. As Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson were playing mobsters on the big screen, real-life gangsters Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen mingled with stars and used the studios as cover for illegal activities. Thursday, Aug. 13, Sundance Now and AMC+

My Brilliant Career

Bridgerton and Buccaneers fans, this one's for you. A period romance based on the classic 1901 novel by Australian author and proto-feminist Miles Franklin, the six-part series bounds into the story of Sybylla, a headstrong young woman who dreams of leaving rural Australia and finding fame as a writer. That goal is jeopardized by her family's intention to marry her off and by the arrival of a handsome suitor. Philippa Northeast stars. Thursday, Aug. 13, Netflix

Engineering From Above

This new documentary series uses drones, satellites, and aerial photography to examine some of the world's engineering and architectural wonders, from the oddball to the sublime. Points of focus range from Rome's Pantheon and Singapore's Supertree Grove to an ancient town in the Peruvian Andes, a ruined Turkish castle, and

The 'other' Sandler, in 'Don't Say Good Luck'

a 35-mile train tunnel through the Swiss Alps. Thursday, Aug. 13, at 10 p.m., History Channel

Don't Say Good Luck

It's Sunny Sandler's turn to shine. The 17-year-old actress continues to show she's more than just the daughter of Adam Sandler, here playing a teenager who lands the lead in her high school musical right as she learns that her mother's cancer has returned. Sunny is backed by an all-star cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Bebe Neuwirth, Max Greenfield, and Melanie Lynskey. Friday, Aug. 14, Netflix

Other highlights

A Child of My Own

A twist-filled documentary reconstructs a sensational story about a Mexican woman who faked a pregnancy and went to extreme lengths to complete the ruse. Thursday, Aug. 13, Netflix

Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker was badly burned and nearly died in a 2008 plane crash. This documentary chronicles his long road to recovery. Thursday, Aug. 13, Hulu

Helicat

In this horror feature, a woman wakes up in a moving camper trailer, discovers she has a strange infection, and is told she has an hour to reach a doctor. Friday, Aug. 14, Shudder

Show of the week

Lanterns

DC Comics adaptations have a spotty track record, but this grounded, gritty take on the Green Lantern franchise, from the tag team of Chris Mundy (True Detective) and Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, The Leftovers), should win lots of fans. Kyle Chandler is Hal Jordan, the ring-bearing intergalactic supercop of the comics, who begins training an understudy, played by Aaron Pierre. As the two investigate a murder in rural Nebraska, signs point to an emerging extraterrestrial threat. Expect Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner, the Lantern in James Gunn's Superman, to also drop in. Sunday, Aug. 16, at 9 p.m., HBO and HBO Max

Pierre and Chandler: The rookie and the old pro

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

Meth. HBO

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LEISURE

Food & Drink

27

Critics' choice: New England seafood, both at home and afar

Lune Dennis Port, Mass.

"Lune might be the best restaurant on the Cape right now," said Devra First in The Boston Globe. And not just because of the food. Opened in 2024 by a couple with deep Cape Cod ties, it occupies a former gas station, and "I was charmed from the moment I entered." As you take in the checkered floor and walls painted "the perfect shade of sage green," you're likely to be greeted by co-owner Charlotte Formichella and catch a glimpse of her husband, Mick, overseeing the team in the small open kitchen. Mick's ever-changing $145 tasting menu is "very much of Cape Cod, with its riches from the sea and garden." The meal starts with soup as an amuse-bouche, such as a cucumber gazpacho with fried ginger. A local oyster follows, perhaps with basil and green strawberry. Next might be asparagus accompanied by a dollop of creamy cheese garnished with pickled onion. And if you're lucky, that might be followed by Lune's "swoon-y" foie gras tarte and confit halibut with a fava bean ragout. Every night, Mick and his team simply send out dishes that excite them. Better yet, "it just feels good to be here." 587 Main St.

Matunuck Atelier Wakefield, R.I.

When Perry Raso's Matunuck Oyster Bar burned down last year, "it wasn't just the beachfront neighbors who showed up in support," said Karen Deutsch in Rhode

Matunuck Atelier's handsome dining room

Island Monthly. "The entire state did." You can feel the love the restaurateur and oyster farmer has engendered at his ambitious new restaurant about 5 miles inland, because its roughly 200 seats are routinely filled or close to it. With the room's evocative lighting and warm wood accents, "there's a lot to catch the eye." But the focus remains on the seafood. Many of the appetizers are "sparse poems" to the ocean life, such as thin-sliced shima aji with olive oil, salt, and a hint of Espelette pepper. For now, the menu's larger plates are works in progress. Though the grilled tuna with vegetables looks lovely, it's "scarce of flavor." And though the house-made pasta is consistently excellent, I sampled a cacio e pepe sauce that was overdiluted, robbing

the Pecorino and black pepper of their bite. At least Matunuck Atelier has the blueprint right. Matunuck Oyster Bar rooted its success in devotion to community and the sea, and "this restaurant is working toward that same end." 151 Old Tower Hill Road

Austin Oyster Co. Austin

When you step inside Austin Oyster Co., "you'll practically feel the New England breeze," said Darcie Duttweiler in The Austin Chronicle. This new venture from Brendan Yancy and Drew Ahumada may sit in a landlocked Texan city, but it "fully commits" to the flavors of coastal New England. Yancy has even established his own oyster farm near Maine's Casco Bay. Inside the restaurant's bright, open space, you'll want to join the crowd at the "incredibly welcoming" bar and grab a briny martini, a blue sheet, and a pencil. Whatever you pick, you'll soon be enjoying "some of the most beautifully shucked oysters in Austin." Because the kitchen also excels at Southeast Asian preparations, the Thai-style tom kha clam is "a mandatory order," the clam served in a coconut-galangal broth with pickled mushrooms and fried shallots. The entrée list "leans toward elevated comfort food," such as a Texas Wagyu burger and a Maine lobster roll with a side of brown butter, while the Maine curry mussels "continue the kitchen's East-meets-East flair." 2502 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Recipe of the week

As this 20-minute recipe proves, "a few pantry spices can completely transform something simple into something extra special," said Lisa Valente in Food & Wine. Egg bhurji is a scrambled-egg dish popular throughout India, and "every bite is infused with warmth, flavor, and color." Chef Maneet Chauhan, who developed this particular recipe, "builds flavor by blooming onion, green chile, ginger, and garlic in ghee until aromatic, then folds in chopped tomatoes and a medley of spices." A finishing squeeze of lemon balances out the spices' gentle heat. Serve the eggs with roti, paratha, or toast.

Egg bhurji (spiced Indian scrambled eggs)

• 2 tbsp ghee or butter • ½ cup chopped onion • 2 tsp finely chopped green chile • 1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger • 1 tsp finely chopped garlic • ½ cup chopped tomatoes • 1 tsp ground coriander • ½ tsp ground turmeric powder • ½ tsp garam masala • ½ tsp Kashmiri chile powder or other red chile powder • kosher salt to taste • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten • 1 tsp fresh lemon juice • 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, for serving

■ In a medium skillet, heat ghee over medium heat. Add onion, chile, ginger, and garlic and cook, stirring often, until onions are translucent, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and spices and cook, stirring often, until spices are toasted and tomatoes soften, 2 to 3 minutes.

■ Add eggs. Stir until eggs are softly scrambled, about 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and serve right away, garnished with chopped cilantro. Serves 2.

Wine: The celebrity aisle

"Side hustles have infiltrated the bottle shop," said Emily Saladino in The Washington Post. Countless celebrities are now profiting from wines sold under their names, and some offerings, unsurprisingly, are "borderline undrinkable." Still, I've found several I can recommend. Hat tips, then, to Kyle MacLachlan, C.J. McCollum, and the three boldface names behind these bottles.

2021 Three by Wade California Chenin Blanc ($23). This entry-level chenin blanc from basketball great Dwayne Wade pairs "juicy melon flavors" with "vibrant lemon on the long finish."

2024 Sun Goddess Pinot Grigio Ramato ($23). This copper-colored wine from R&B legend Mary J. Blige and Italy's Friuli region tastes of stone fruit, citrus, and white tea, and its finish is "long and zesty."

2022 Bledsoe Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon ($55). "Pricey but well made," this Columbia Valley cab from former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe offers blackberry, herb, cedar, and mineral notes, all "elegantly layered."

Rachel Vann

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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28 LEISURE

Consumer

The 2026 Fiat Topolino: What the critics say

Car and Driver

"Just look at the little guy: so much character packed into a fun-sized package." But don't expect Fiat's new low-speed neighborhood EV to serve as an alternative to a small SUV. With its 8 hp electric motor that tops out at 19 mph and its 46-mile range, the Topolino is "more like the Birkin bag of golf carts than any useful commuter." It could find buyers in beach towns and resort communities, though, and a conversion kit that's soon arriving will boost its top speed to a "dizzying" 25 mph, making it street legal in many town centers.

The Drive

Topolino is Italian for "little mouse," but Fiat's

nimble runabout is "big on design." Its "bubbly" shape is smile-inducing, its round headlights are adorable, and the "period-correct" rear luggage rack will thrill vintage enthusiasts. Fiat is also partnering with a third-party shop that's creating customized editions. Absent such upgrades, the interior is spartan, the seats "more decorative than comfortable," and the dash a black plastic slab.

Motor Trend

E-Z-Go and Club Car sell four-seat street-legal golf carts at roughly the same price while the Topolino seats only two. But the Fiat can be ordered with a panoramic roof and doors that shut out the weather. Besides, it "looks less like

Big style in a small package, from $13,995

a modified golf cart and more like a proper little Italian car, with playful details that make even a short errand feel like part of a vacation."

The best of...cat habitats

CatsJoys Modern

Wooden House

"If you want to keep it cheap and simple, you can't go wrong with a plain old cardboard box." But if style is important, consider this space-age hide-away, suitable for cats or small dogs. $530, etsy.com Source: NYMag.com

The Purrgola

Designed to sit inside a window frame, the Purrgola provides "a fun and stylish way for your indoor cats to interact safely with the outdoors." Its room-side access door is fragile, but the box itself is constructed of sturdy, weatherproof acrylic. $325, thepurrgola.com Source: Wired

Tuft + Paw Frond Cat Tree

The petal-like perches on this attractive, compact cat tree "aren't really large enough for naps," but they're "perfect for cats looking to post up above the action," and their positions can be altered to keep the climbing interesting.

$129, tuftandpaw.com

Source: The Spruce

Sam's Pets Escher

Cat Tree & Condo

"A modern take" on the two-story cat habitat, this hangout is offered in a choice of four wood stains. It has two faux-fur cushions for napping and integrated scratching posts. $76, samspets.com Source: NYMag.com

Mau Cento

Mau Pets specializes in "visually striking options that put to shame any cat tree at a big-box pet store." The Cento's witchy look is "not for everyone," but quality materials make this tree "worth the hefty cost." $299, maupets.com Source: Wirecutter

Tip of the week...

Four plants that'll glow up any garden

Hydrangeas, with their pom-pom-like flowers, "always give a feeling of luxurious generosity," so they're great for elevating the look of any garden bed. Choose Hydrangea paniculata to achieve "the fullness and scale that can make a garden feel professionally designed," and be sure to plant in partial shade.

Angel trumpet, or Brugmansia, is a pricey and needy plant, but the "enormous" hanging trumpet-like flowers are true showpieces, and they're wonderfully fragrant after dark.

Dark mullein, or Verbascum nigrum, "always looks expensive," especially if you choose it in its white-flowering variety. With 3.5-foot-tall flowering spires rising above handsome dark foliage, it adds height to a garden. It's also inexpensive, and even easy to start from seed.

Roses, while not a foolproof option, have obvious appeal. Varieties with long blooming seasons include Iceberg and Whiter Shade of Pale. They also require relatively little maintenance.

Source: Real Simple

And for those who have everything...

Everyone knows that managing a busy household is a challenge, and the mental load of keeping

track of field trips, dinner dates, summer-camp sign-ups, and doctor visits usually lands heaviest on moms. That load can be lightened with the Skylight Calendar, "an elegant, color-coded touchscreen calendar that the entire family can interact with." It's not the only dedicated digital calendar on the market, but it's distinguished by a $79-a-year premium subscription that allows you to enter events into the calendar simply by forwarding team schedules or emailed invitations. It also turns recipes into shopping lists, links to your Google calendars, and can be accessed via app wherever you wander.

From $150, myskylight.com

Source: Wirecutter

Tech support...

Four ways to optimize CarPlay

Customize your home screen. If you use Apple CarPlay while driving, tailor it for your needs. Under Settings on your iPhone, go to General, then CarPlay, tap your car's name, and hit Customize. You'll now be able to decide which apps will pop up on CarPlay's home screen and which won't.

Use Announce Notifications. In your phone's settings, under Siri, turn on Announce Notifications and enable it for the pertinent apps, then check CarPlay settings to ensure announcements are enabled. They're crucial for hands-free driving.

Edit the Driving Focus mode. To minimize distractions, go to Settings on your phone and tap on Driving Focus. You'll be able to choose which contacts can reach you on the road and which will receive an automated message.

Share your sound system. When listening to Apple Music on CarPlay, tap the SharePlay icon and a QR code will pop up that'll let your passengers add tunes to any road trip's soundtrack.

Source: 9to5mac.com

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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Women around the world are demanding access to safe, modern reproductive healthcare.

One in ten women cannot make decisions for themselves about the use of contraception and 257 million women worldwide can't access contraception at all.

MSI Reproductive Choices is committed to accelerating progress toward universal access to contraception.

We're calling on funders, philanthropists and everyone who cares about reproductive choice, freedom and opportunity to join us in this commitment.

Global access to contraception is an achievable goal.

msiunitedstates.org

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30

Best Properties on the Market

This week: Homes in Utah

1 ◀ Spring City Set in a historic arts community, the Behunin-Beck house is an 1883 Utah Gothic Revival stone home that's been recently updated. The three-bedroom has a new aquatinted chef's kitchen with a La Cornue range, a library, a new HVAC system, and a third bath, while period details, including wallpapers and the paint palette, have also been introduced. The more than 1-acre lot includes a renovated log cabin, a horse barn, a garage, and a tree house. $1,850,000. Carolyn Kirkham, Summit Sotheby's International Realty, (801) 450-0800

2 ▶ Salt Lake City

Built in 1926, this French château-style three-bedroom is in the Gilmer Park Historic District, 15 minutes from Temple Square downtown. Renovated in 2006, the home features a living room with a vaulted hand-painted ceiling, French doors, and a Juliet balcony; a two-story library has quartersawn oak built-ins. Included

on the nearly 1-acre lot are a pool, yards, ponds, mature trees, stone bridges, and stairs to a creek. $4,600,000. Mimi Sinclair, Summit Sotheby's International Realty, (801) 580-6089

3 ◀ Eden In the Powder Haven ski community in the Wasatch Mountains, this 2018 contemporary mountain home has ski-in, ski-out access. The four-bedroom comes furnished and has an open plan with clerestory windows, hardwood floors, a gas fireplace, and a lower level with a rec area and guest rooms. Outside are a barrel sauna, hot tub, and deck; shared amenities include trails and lifts, dining, and a lakefront lodge. $6,250,000. Brian Williams, Engel & Völkers Park City, (435) 602-0217

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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31

4 ◀ Ivins Located beside Snow Canyon State Park in southwest Utah, this desert modern home is set against the red rock cliffs of the Kayenta area. The 2023 three-bedroom has walls of windows that frame the hills, a mauve-toned kitchen that includes an upholstered banquette and a butler's pantry with a wine fridge, and a green zellige-tiled fireplace surround that mirrors the xeriscaping. The almost 2-acre lot also features a pool, spa, and patio. $4,700,000. David Ellis, The Agency St. George, (435) 862-9199

5 ▶ American Fork This 2026 triple-gabled contemporary six-bedroom is near Utah Lake and Mount Timpanogos, 20 minutes outside Provo. The vaulted great room has a floor-to-ceiling fireplace and a wall of glass sliders. A kitchen includes teardrop pendants and a full pantry, and a lower level encompasses a kitchenette, theater, gym, sauna, cold plunge, and billiards. The property includes a pool, lounge areas, and a putting green. $4,500,000. Leanna Deherrera, Windermere Real Estate—Utah/Luxury Portfolio International, (801) 688-4060

Steal of the week

6 ◀ Salt Lake City In the Dorius, a 1912 building in the Avenues neighborhood, this two-bedroom condo is walking distance from a park, pickleball courts, and dining. The home has exposed brick walls, original hardwood floors, crown molding, and high ceilings, with a floor-to-ceiling fireplace, a bay window, and a

refreshed kitchen with quartz counters and stainless appliances. The living room opens to a covered private balcony. $385,000. Bobby Vigil, Windermere Real Estate—Utah/Luxury Portfolio International, (801) 455-6550

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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32 NEWS

BUSINESS

The News at a Glance

The bottom line

■ More than 170,000 federal student loan borrowers who said they were defrauded by their schools are set to have $11 billion in debt erased, after an appellate court sided with the borrowers this week and rejected a request from the Education Department for more time to review their claims.

The New York Times

■ The Trump administration said it has refunded about $100 billion of the revenue that was collected through President Trump's 2025 "Liberation Day" tariffs, representing about 60% of the roughly $166 billion the government says it took in from the sweeping duties, which the Supreme Court ruled were unlawful.

■ ExxonMobil and Chevron reported a combined $26.5 billion in profits during the second quarter of the year as the Iran war pushed up global oil prices. Profits for the oil industry are anticipated to top $425 billion for the year if prices for a barrel of crude stay above $90, according to research firm Wood MacKenzie.

■ Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the company is spending more than $250 million annually to provide GLP-1 weight-loss medications to its workforce, accounting for roughly 13% of its health-care spending.

■ A quarter of men ages 18 to 29 said they trade stocks daily, and almost two-thirds of them (64%) report feeling like failures, according to a study of 2,000 men by the Institute for Family Studies. Seven in 10 respondents said that success is more a matter of who you know than ability or hard work.

Bloomberg

Currency: U.S. rushes to support Japan's yen

The Treasury Department "took a rare step" to support a key ally's currency last week, coordinating with Tokyo to help prop up the Japanese yen, said Eshe Nelson in The New York Times. The yen purchase came after the currency recently sagged to its weakest level against the U.S. dollar since 1986. That has fueled concerns that Japan could "sell significant portions of its large pile of U.S. Treasurys" to fund further

economic interventions, which would raise the yields that the U.S. government must pay on its debts. Washington intervened to bolster the yen in 1998—and coordinated with Japan to weaken it after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011—but this move was even more unusual,

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

because it involved selling euros to fund the transaction.

There's a deeper "message beneath the yen intervention," said Neil Irwin in Axios. "Headline indicators have been steady across global financial markets this summer." But this may be a sign of strain "beneath the surface, particularly in the form of rising long-term borrowing costs at a time of elevated debt worldwide." Longer-term U.S.

borrowing rates "have been marching upward," reflecting growing concern about fiscal deficits and AI spending. When two of the world's largest economies step into the market together, one analyst said, "they're telling investors something about the global financial system."

Uber: A victim-blaming legal strategy?

Uber has been attacking the credibility of women who sue its drivers for sexual assault, said Emily Steel in The New York Times, often scouring their "private communications, medical records, therapy notes, and other sources for sensitive details" that it can then "grill the women about" in court. More than 4,000 lawsuits have been filed against the rideshare company, accusing it of failing to protect customers from its own contracted drivers. "The litigation has revealed a clear pattern" by Uber's lawyers, who have even questioned victims about their outfits and behavior. The strategy "contradicts Uber's stance" as a self-proclaimed "survivor-centric" company.

Big government: Feds take stakes in seven more firms

The Commerce Department said this week it is awarding $874 million in federal incentives to seven semiconductor companies in exchange for a "minority, noncontrolling stake" in each, said Miranda Nazzaro in The Hill. "The awards will be used to conduct research and development on critical technologies and advanced integrated photonics," a new chip technology that uses light instead of electricity, the agency said. The Trump administration also gave Intel $11 billion in federal subsidies in exchange for a 10% stake last year.

Capital One: Trump accounts were flagged for fraud

Capital One said last week it closed hundreds of Trump Organization accounts in 2021 over concerns about possible money laundering, said Allison Morrow in CNN.com. In a court filing, the bank said it had identified "transaction patterns" that triggered an anti-money-laundering review, which banks are legally obligated to conduct if they flag suspicious activity. The bank didn't say what it found, but closing accounts "is not taken lightly." Trump sued Capital One in federal court last year, alleging that he had been "debanked" for political reasons.

SpaceX: Stock sinks after first earnings report

Shares of Elon Musk's SpaceX fell 13% after the company revealed higher-than-expected spending on artificial intelligence, said Sana Pashankar and Carmen Arroyo in Bloomberg. The unprofitable rocketry firm released its first earnings report since its record initial public offering in June, and its revenue exceeded expectations. Investors, however, were more concerned about the $28.5 billion it spent in the first half of 2026 on AI infrastructure. The stock has now fallen well below its IPO price, shaving roughly $600 billion off Musk's net worth since he became the world's first trillionaire.

'Preloved' is in, just ask Banana Republic

Some popular fashion retailers are embracing a thrift-store mentality, said Clara Hudson in The Wall Street Journal. Tired of churning out a "seemingly endless array of styles"—and under pressure to reduce its environmental impact—the fashion industry is starting to embrace secondhand garments as a new way to attract customers. At H&M's SoHo store in New York City, for example, shoppers can find a "vintage" section, featuring a mishmash of items, from Jimmy Buffett T-shirts to designer Moschino tops. Banana Republic recently launched "Archive," featuring "reclaimed" pieces from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, while Reformation has a "preloved" section that includes "Prada and Bebe alongside its own styles." The move comes as pressure increases on fashion brands to design products "that are less trendy and more durable." France, for instance, recently passed legislation fining apparel companies "for churning out high volumes of cheap clothing."

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

© 2026

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Making Money

BUSINESS 33

Medicare Part D: The cost of ending drug subsidies

Millions of older Americans who are already struggling with rising gas and food prices will soon have to pay more for prescription drugs, said Anna Wilde Mathews in The Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration announced last week that it is scrapping a Biden-era subsidy program for Medicare drug plans, known as Part D, starting next year. The program, which this year will give insurers an estimated $3.6 billion to “blunt increases in premiums,” lowered average premiums by about 40% in 2025 for Part D’s 25 million enrollees. About 75% of enrollees, who today pay an average monthly premium of $36, will be hit with higher bills in 2027 because of the cancellation. The Trump administration said the subsidies encouraged insurers to hike rates, knowing the government would pick up the tab. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, said the insurance industry “bailout” was “no longer needed,” and that the administration was working with pharma companies to lower drug costs.

“Letting these Medicare subsidies expire is the right thing to do,” said The Washington Post in an editorial. The program began in 2024 with an administrative action by President Joe Biden, with no authorization from Congress. It was always a “Band-Aid for bad policy, not a long-term solution for health-care costs.” Rather than addressing why Part D premiums were going up, the subsidies shifted more of the bill to taxpayers. “If a health policy

Part D premiums could rise by $20 per month.

can’t work without taxpayers bailing out insurance companies when costs rise more than expected, the underlying policy is the problem, not the planned expiration of the bailout.” The subsidy was always intended to be temporary, said Aliss Higham in Newsweek. It was designed to “limit volatility and variation in Part D premiums” as insurers adapted to changes in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which reduced Medicare enrollees’ out-of-pocket expenses and capped insulin and vaccine costs. Ultimately, more than half the subsidy money flowed to just one company, UnitedHealth Group, which Oz called “unacceptable.”

The cancellation “comes at a curious time,” said Miranda Yaver in MS.now. Midterm elections are just around the corner and Democrats are pressuring Republicans on affordability issues. And now “America’s most reliable voting bloc will receive notice of higher health-care costs”—in most cases, up to $20 more per month. That might not sound like a lot, but it matters greatly to seniors who live on fixed incomes. “This policy shift undercuts Trump’s expressed commitment to prescription drug affordability,” especially because his other efforts, like the direct-to-consumer drug portal, TrumpRx, and most favored nation drug pricing, “have shown little progress” in actually lowering costs. As a political issue, Medicare “should remain untouchable.” The Trump administration is testing the “third rail.”

What the experts say

■ Colleges tap their own piggy banks Struggling colleges are “raiding their endowments to pay the bills,” said Douglas Belkin in The Wall Street Journal. Last year, nearly 200 private colleges borrowed from restricted endowments, up from 131 in 2021, according to estimates from Perspective Data Science. “Schools used most of the money for everyday expenses,” often just to keep the lights on. Typically, schools can change how a bounded gift is spent only by asking permission from the donor. But boards of trustees that have exhausted other options—such as digging into unrestricted endowments—have also started “searching for loopholes in restricted funds given by benefactors who are deceased.” Ohio’s attorney general last year filed suit against 14 trustees and officers of Notre Dame College, a small Catholic school outside Cleveland, alleging they used more than $2 million of restricted funds outside the donors’ wishes.

■ Father of the 401(k) has another plan Ted Benna knows the 401(k) plan has issues, said Suzanne Woolley in Bloomberg. Benna, “widely hailed as the father” of the workplace retirement plan, noticed in 1978 that a provision in the tax code “allowed rank-and-file staff to defer money from their paycheck before

taxes.” But Benna, now 84, says 401(k)s have “become too complex and expensive, and benefit wealthier savers more” than others. Benna’s new solution is what he’s calling Radish. It works like a “tax-advantaged rewards program,” in which companies deposit money into an account set aside for “workers who hit performance goals, such as safety, tenure, or on-time delivery.” Benna says it would help employee retention and incentivize performance.

■ HOAs coming under stress Homeowners’ associations across the nation are becoming more aggressive in collecting unpaid dues, said Lauren Elkies Schram in the New York Post. HOA foreclosures have risen 40% over the past two years, outpacing mortgage foreclosures, leading associations to crack down harder on delinquent residents. The associations are “running out of money—and patience”—as they face “rising costs for staffing, lawn care, and construction materials.” Master insurance policy premiums that cover shared property and general liability for HOAs have also soared in recent years, and many boards are under pressure to “meet stricter safety measures” instituted in the wake of the 2021 Surfside condo collapse in Florida, which can initiate large special assessments.

Charity of the week

Former first-grade teacher Alvin Irby believes that the barbershop is a perfect reading environment for young Black boys. Irby came up with the idea to start Barbershop Books (barbershopbooks.org) in 2013 after seeing one of his students waiting for his haircut, bored and antsy, with nothing to read. It clicked for him why 83% of Black fourth graders were not proficient readers: They did not have enough reading role models at school and at home. Recognizing the cultural importance of barbershops in Black communities, Irby’s organization has since equipped approximately 250 barbershops across the U.S. with over 50,000 free, stimulating, funny children’s books aimed for young Black audiences, while also training barbers to encourage reading for fun. Barbershop Books also recently launched “Reading So Lit Summer,” a virtual two-week program taught by high-school students that is designed to encourage more boys to read for fun.

Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator, which rates not-for-profit organizations on the strength of their finances, their governance practices, and the transparency of their operations. Four stars is the group’s highest rating.

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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34 BUSINESS

Best Columns: Business

Hedge funds: Downfall of an AI ‘wunderkind’

The “Nostradamus of AI” didn’t see this coming, said Rob Copeland in The New York Times. Until recently, 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner was one of Silicon Valley’s cult superstars—a former OpenAI researcher whose audacious hedge fund, called Situational Awareness, had turned a few AI investments into a $45 billion behemoth almost overnight. He poured that money into “anything that could even vaguely benefit from the AI boom,” positioning his fund “at the center of the hottest trade on the planet.” But last week, it all came crashing down. A sharp decline in AI stocks prompted Goldman Sachs to call in its loans, which the hedge fund couldn’t pay back—“not without holding” a $20 billion fire sale. Eventually, “in one of the largest rushed equity transactions in Wall Street history,” another hedge fund, Citadel, swooped in to buy almost the entire portfolio at a steep discount. Aschenbrenner vowed to “fight another day.” But his fund’s swift collapse rattled Wall Street, renewing fears about the AI bubble.

This is simply another example of a “tech wunderkind flying too close to the sun,” said Aaron Brown in Bloomberg. Aschenbrenner told investors just last month that Situational Awareness returned 439% during the first half of the year. Such returns happen “less than once in a century,” and never in a fund’s second year. You don’t need a risk report to establish that this “lucky fool” also “had nobody to say how much leverage was too much.” Aschenbrenner’s celebrated crystal ball “rolled off the table and shattered on the parlor floor,” said Charles Gasparino in the New York Post. But he’s not the only one with “irrational

Aschenbrenner: Face of the bubble!

exuberance” over AI. Most of Wall Street is “closely monitoring the Situational Awareness situation because they were holding many of the same positions.” Similar “excitement over something new and possibly transformational” existed before the 2000 dot-com crash and 2008 financial crisis. Situational Awareness could be “the coal mine’s canary.”

The problem facing AI companies today is that “few firms treat AI as a core technology, which limits how much they are willing to spend on it,” said The Economist. Only about 1 in 10 U.S. small-to-midsize businesses have paid for a dedicated AI tool, according to Intuit; “free or ultra-cheap AI models are often good enough” for the rest. Worse, surveys suggest that AI usage has leveled off as the novelty has waned. If you add up AI revenue at the

top tech firms, you’d land at roughly $150 billion. Yet they are spending $900 billion on AI-related advancements and borrowing $400 billion to do it.

It’s why investors are growing tired of technology’s “masters of hype,” said Katie Martin in the Financial Times. “Perhaps the stock market listing of Elon Musk’s SpaceX really did ring a bell at the top of this speculative market cycle.” Its shares have now fallen by half since their peak. In general, retail investors are selling tech stocks “at the most rapid pace since the Covid crisis,” according to research firm Vanda. It’s a sign that “investors know the hubris has been mounting,” and they are “reiggering their portfolios” to reject the “painfully obvious nonsense.”

Warsh keeps the market guessing

John Cassidy The New Yorker

“Being a central banker has never been an easy job,” said John Cassidy. Kevin Warsh is already learning this the hard way. At last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, the new Federal Reserve chairman “spoke largely in platitudes and generalizations.” When asked about the discussions over raising interest rates, he dodged the question. This led traders to sell off long-term Treasury bonds, suggesting they were unsettled by uncertainty over the Fed’s future direction. Warsh’s stated motive for saying so little is that he has long thought the Fed said too much. In a sense, he is “a throwback to old-school central bankers who prized their absolute discretion in decision-making and rarely

said anything.” But a reluctance to provide forward guidance is “no justification for not providing any current guidance” about the Fed’s rationale to hold rates steady. It’s a “recipe for confusion, uncertainty, and higher borrowing costs.” And a cynical view is that Warsh’s primary goal is “to avoid incurring President Trump’s wrath by raising rates before the midterms,” which explains why “he is so unwilling to give any hostages to fortune.” So far, his communication strategy has failed to demonstrate “that he is, in fact, independent of Trump.” And until he does, bond traders and commentators “will react skeptically to his every comment, or refusal to comment, and who can blame them?”

Puerto Rico’s Clemente error

Ilya Shapiro City Journal

Roberto Clemente’s legacy belongs in Puerto Rican history and culture, said Ilya Shapiro, but his registered commercial mark still belongs to his family. Yet when the commonwealth “enacted laws requiring motorists to pay extra for license plates and registration tags bearing Clemente’s name, image, jersey number 21, and references to his 3,000 career hits,” the Puerto Rican government nabbed the proceeds, not Clemente’s sons. They sued under the Lantham Act (the federal trademark statute) and the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause. The U.S. Court of Appeals tossed the constitutional claim, arguing that the rule against government taking property “applies

only to tangible property” and not an “intangible” trademark. The Supreme Court should call out that distinction and “go to bat for Clemente.” The Fifth Amendment never defined property as needing to be “weighed, measured, fenced, or stuffed into a warehouse.” Neither did James Madison, who described property as anything “to which a person may attach value and claim a right.” As soon as “an unauthorized user exploits” a trademark, its owner “loses control” over what “gives the mark its value.” The 1st Circuit’s ruling sets a dangerous precedent. When the “government takes private property for public use, it must pay for it.”

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

Business Abstracts/The New York Times/Boston

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Obituaries

35

The anatomist who made art out of corpses

Gunther von Hagens 1945-2026

Gunther von Hagens peeled away the mysteries of the human body. The

German anatomist developed a way to preserve a human corpse by replacing the fluids and fats with plastic, so a skinned body could be posed and shaped, revealing the skeleton and organs. While the preserved bodies were first intended for teaching medical students, von Hagens soon used them in public touring exhibitions that were a mix of science and art. "Body Worlds"—which featured macabre figures positioned in life poses such as running, playing chess, or copulating—was immensely popular, attracting some 58 million visitors worldwide. But many people, both religious and secular, found them morally repugnant. One Berlin rabbi compared the commodification of human corpses to the Nazis' transformation of Holocaust victims into soap and lampshades. But von Hagens brushed off labels such as Frankenstein and "Dr. Death," saying he was in the business of education. The models let you "recognize yourself as a member of the human species," he said in 1998. "Your humanity becomes clear."

Von Hagens was born Gunther Gerhard Liebchen—a name he gave up after marrying his first wife, Cornelia von Hagens—in what is now

Skalmierzyce, Poland. His father was in the SS, and days after his birth "his parents placed him in a laundry basket while fleeing the approaching Russian army," said The Washington Post. Growing up in communist East Germany, he became interested in medicine at age 6, during a hospital stay for his hemophilia. While he was in medical school, he began protesting the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and he spent time

in prison for trying to flee across the Iron Curtain before West Germany allowed him in. There he developed the preservation technique he would call "plastination," and in 1995 he opened his first "Body Worlds" show in Tokyo. "Not everyone agreed" that it was a public service, said The New York Times. Some shows were picketed, even vandalized, and in 2004, a German magazine alleged that his plastination plant in China used the bodies of executed prisoners. Von Hagens said he hadn't known.

"The controversies gradually subsided," though, said the Financial Times, and by 2024, more than 20,000 people had agreed to undergo plastination after their deaths. Von Hagens, diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2008, decided he would be among them. "It gives me great satisfaction," he said, "to know that I will continue to teach after my death."

The horse whisperer who replaced coercion with trust

Monty Roberts refused to terrorize a horse into obedience. Replied by the aggressive and violent methods used by traditional horsebreakers like his father, he developed a peaceful approach to calm a frightened steed in minutes.

Monty Roberts 1935-2026

Studying wild mustangs in Nevada's high desert as a teen, he

learned their silent language of gesture and eye contact, which he called Equus. The technique made him a sought-after trainer, and he caught the attention of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, an avid horsewoman. He became her lifelong adviser and friend. "For 6,000 years, horses had been broken with a lot of violence, taking four to six weeks before they could be ridden," Roberts said in 2022. "I could train horses to take their first saddle and rider in less than 30 minutes."

Raised in the ranchlands of Salinas, Calif., Marvin Earl Roberts Jr. "could confidently walk, trot, and canter a horse by the time he was 3," said The New York Times. He "was such an adept rider" as a kid that he frequently stood in for Hollywood child stars like Mickey Rooney. But his home life was abusive. In his autobiography, Roberts said that when he was 7, he tried to show his dad a gentler touch with the animals, only to be beaten "so severely with a chain" that he had to be hospitalized.

His skill with horses was a "more or less private miracle" until 1989, when the queen invited him to work with her horses, said The Telegraph (U.K.). After Nicholas Evans' 1995 book The Horse Whisperer—not based on him—came out, Roberts became "an international celebrity" with his own best-selling autobiography. "A good trainer can hear a horse speak to him," he wrote. "A great trainer can hear him whisper."

The Texas Republican who boosted the F-35

Kay Granger 1943-2026

Kay Granger led a life of political firsts. The first female mayor of Fort Worth, she was also Texas' first female GOP congresswoman, a milestone not reached until 1996. During 14 terms in the House, she became the first Republican woman to lead the powerful Appropriations Committee, earning a reputation as a defense hawk ready to fulfill any military-spending request. She was a particular champion of the F-35, a high-tech warplane known for whopping cost overruns that was produced, not coincidentally, in Fort Worth. A relative moderate on social issues, Granger had no patience for conservative critics who called her insufficiently hard-line. "If you cut taxes and you're tough on crime and you work to build the economy, I never could figure out what was liberal about that," she said. "Is it because I like children and believe in education?"

Norvell Kay Granger grew up in Fort Worth and "followed her mother into teaching," said the Associated Press, spending nine years as a high school English teacher. After divorcing as a young mother, she shifted gears and sold insurance, building a business she managed for two decades. Becoming politically active to block a

waste disposal plant near her home, she got on the zoning commission and the city council and was elected mayor in 1991. Her "resuscitation of Fort Worth's flagging economic fortunes drew national attention," with the city headquartering Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, and in 1995, the GOP tapped her to run

for Congress. As a lawmaker she was known "for being direct" and pragmatic, said the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, wielding particular "influence over defense projects." Her darling, Lockheed's F-35, became the most expensive weapons program in history, costing some $2 trillion.

Granger's final year in office ended in scandal, said The Washington Post. In 2024, after five months when she cast no votes "and her Texas office appeared closed," a constituent tipped off The Dallas Express that she was in a senior facility suffering from dementia. In her later terms, Granger had "found herself increasingly squeezed between her centrist roots and the rising hard-right MAGA movement." It was a tough spot for someone committed to bipartisanism. "Partisan gridlock is not a sustainable path for our nation's future," she said in 2014. "The American people know and understand that."

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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36

The Last Word

Turning protest into a crime

Erik Davis was one of thousands of Minnesotans who rallied peacefully against ICE, said Sam Levin in The Guardian. Now the U.S. government is trying to send him to prison for six years.

ERIK DAVIS WAS driving to a medical appointment in St. Paul, Minn., on June 16 when federal agents surrounded his car.

"They hauled me out...and put me in a belly chain," recalled the 53-year-old. He was arrested on the spot on charges of being part of a "conspiracy" to "impede or injure" Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Davis, a college professor and father of two, was one of thousands of Minnesotans who had rallied earlier this year when the Trump administration launched an aggressive crackdown on immigrants in the Twin Cities.

Now the government alleged that he and 14 others used "force, intimidation, and threats" to prevent officers from carrying out their duties.

In its 94-page indictment, the government has argued that Direct Action Minnesota, the loose coalition of organizers that Davis was connected with, conspired to obstruct federal law enforcement and had "ties" to "antifa." The prosecution follows a pattern seen in other cases against demonstrators this year, with the government highlighting the comments and actions of some activists in the coalition to paint all 15 defendants as agitators pursuing violence against ICE.

One such case in Chicago spectacularly collapsed last month. Demonstrators in Texas were recently convicted of terrorism charges and sentenced to decades behind bars, though in that case one protester shot and injured an officer. Prosecutors have not alleged any specific injuries to officers in Minnesota.

Civil rights advocates have said these prosecutions, even when unsuccessful, are part of an effort to criminalize lawful community organizing, weaken movements opposing deportations, and turn the lives of activists upside down.

Davis, the government says, has attended and facilitated meetings about protests and discussed his "anti-authoritarian" ideology with other activists. He is not accused of violent acts, taking any specific actions at protests, or having any encounters with ICE agents.

He is facing six years in prison.

"It's petty revenge," Davis said. "They're trying to portray being part of a community as an illegal conspiratorial act."

Davis and other defendants inter-

Davis says the charges against him are meant to scare others.

viewed by The Guardian are confident that the case against them will collapse. But the government is trying to send a signal, Davis said: "This isn't just about us. It's about trying to scare everybody who opposes ICE."

DAVIS IS A Buddhist studies scholar at Macalester College in St. Paul and has long been part of labor organizing and activism against police violence in the region. When federal agents flooded the Twin Cities in January in a massive effort to round up immigrants, he felt compelled to step up, he said: "It was a federal invasion and terror campaign on our streets. The behavior of these masked thugs was horrific...they were ripping human beings out of families."

Outrage and local organizing efforts swelled following the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. There were rapid response and mutual aid networks, groups documenting ICE sightings, know-your-rights training sessions, food donations for immigrant families trapped at home. And many joined Signal groups with strangers to get plugged in.

"It was astonishing. The overwhelming sense was that almost everybody was

opposed and angry and scared, and almost everybody wanted to do something," said Davis, who joined hyper-local group chats with neighbors.

The indictment does not describe Davis orchestrating any specific protest plans, giving detailed directions to other activists, or conducting any violence. It does allege that on Jan. 11, four days after Good's killing, Davis helped facilitate an "emergency meeting" for residents interested in "resistance to ICE" that featured discussions of protest tactics, like civil disobedience, marches, and "blockades" to stop ICE officers.

Prosecutors also cite a post by Davis in a Signal group six days later in which he shared information about upcoming protests and encouraged people to be at a federal immigration building. The indictment further notes that Davis suggested people delete the group while on the ground during demonstrations, and that he participated in two additional meetings and a rally.

The indictment accuses other defendants of more serious offenses: eight of the other defendants are said to have participated in an action on March 1, where demonstrators held shields and blocked vehicles from entering or leaving a federal building. Prosecutors say "individuals threw projectiles" at local sheriffs during the protest but did not specify if any defendants were involved in that.

Four defendants face charges for separate incidents. One is accused of telling people to get guns in January. One is accused of following an agent in May to Wisconsin, just across the state border. And one is accused of assault and destruction of government property after allegedly knocking paperwork out of an agent's hand and kicking an officer's car in May. The indictment doesn't allege Davis was involved in any of the incidents in March or May.

Across the indictment, there are no allegations of injuries to specific ICE officers, or charges of serious violence like there were in the recent federal prosecution of protesters in Prairieland, Texas, in which one protester shot and injured an officer.

Daniel Rosen, the Minnesota U.S. attorney, said that whether the Minneapolis protesters caused physical harm was not the measure of criminality in this case.

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

Eric Raby/The Guardian

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The Last Word

37

THE BROADER SUGGESTION of the indictment is that Davis' statements in Signal chats and meetings, alongside the statements and actions of others, show the groups collectively were conspiring to oppose the U.S. government's authority and interfere with ICE—and that they were connected to "Antifa groups" that "blend anarchist and communist views."

At a press conference announcing the charges, Rosen said the prosecution supported the mission of Donald Trump's executive order last year that designated "antifa" a "domestic terrorist organization" responsible for "riots" against ICE. Antifa is not a formal entity but an umbrella term for a wide array of anti-fascist activism.

To support the alleged "antifa" connection, the Department of Justice has highlighted a photo showing one of the defendants wearing an "I'm Antifa!" sweatshirt. Prosecutors also quoted another defendant's post on Facebook: "YOU WILL NEVER WIN WITH NON-VIOLENCE ALONE."

The indictment does not cite any comments by Davis about antifa. The charges don't define the relationships of the protesters to one another, nor does it provide evidence that defendants like Davis endorsed the more radical statements or actions of others facing charges.

Authorities say Davis referred to his ideologies as "anarchist," "broadly anti-authoritarian," and "broadly anti-capitalist" and praised the "revolutionary potential of our organizations" and "militancy" in a Signal message.

Spokespeople for the Department of Justice in Minnesota declined to comment. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined to answer questions about the case, pointing to an earlier statement saying people who "lay a hand on law enforcement... will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Davis said his own political beliefs are focused on expanding equality and people's freedoms and opposing state violence and authoritarianism—far removed, he said, from the stereotype of a violent "anarchist" extremist. He said the meeting he helped facilitate involved more than a hundred participants with a wide range of ideologies—a space for people to come together after Good's killing. "I'm not sure I'm described as doing anything illegal, which makes sense, because I didn't." He noted it was common for people to delete Signal chats at protests due to concerns about officers accessing phones during arrests.

"It's bewildering. It seemed weird and laughable," Davis said of the indictment. "It felt like the length of the indictment was

a cover for how thin it actually was. I'm a professor. I've seen people pad out papers when they've got nothing to say."

AMONG THE MINNESOTA protesters facing the most severe charges is Natasha Rakotz.

Rakotz, a 45-year-old home health aide, said it took her a while to get involved in organizing efforts after ICE arrived in the city. She said she wasn't connected to any activist groups and didn't know where to start. But she felt morally obligated: "People say, 'If it was 1935 Germany, what would I do?' I couldn't do nothing. I couldn't sit by and wait for them to kill somebody else. I couldn't sit in my privileged white existence and allow the government to absolutely ravage people that need protecting... It felt like nobody was going to save us."

Rakotz eventually linked up with groups monitoring ICE and threw herself into the work. Like Davis, Rakotz faces conspiracy charges. The government says she participated in a Signal chat focused on observing ICE vehicles, talking about what times she would be observing and how she takes photos of license plates. She asked others what they had observed and said she was interested in learning more about civil disobedience.

But in addition, the Justice Department says that on May 18, Rakotz followed a federal immigration officer's vehicle, "brake checked," and "side swiped" the car, "causing a collision." The indictment does not provide further details.

ICE protesters marching in Minneapolis in January

Rakotz has denied the allegation. State records show local officers called to the scene of the collision cited her for a misdemeanor of allegedly violating her "duty to drive with due care," a minor offense. A court report said she told an officer she was not following the federal agent and the collision was an accident. She was not arrested at that time.

Eventually, state prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor, saying federal prosecu-

tors were filing charges covering the incident. The U.S. attorney's office has since accused Rakotz of assault on an officer, with a charge alleging "physical contact" and "injury," though the indictment doesn't identify a victim or specify the injuries the collision may have caused, and it doesn't detail any damage to the government's car. That charge could carry a 20-year sentence on top of six years for conspiracy.

"I really believe these charges are going to get dropped because they're unfounded and ridiculous," said Rakotz. "But I feel like the process is the punishment."

A trial date has not been set and complicated cases like this can drag on for months. In the meantime, the consequences of the case have been far-reaching for the defendants. "They are trying to ruin our lives... I try not to remind myself all the time that the consequence of this bureaucracy is my freedom," Davis said.

Davis worries about impacts on his career. He said he has long striven to keep his academic work and activism separate, but now thrust into the spotlight as an alleged "conspirator," he wonders if his scholarship could be affected.

He has struggled to sleep, and the case has taken a toll on his personal relationships, he said. The 15 defendants are under a strict "no contact" order with one another, which has meant he has been cut off from several close friends, who are also defendants in the case.

He has worked hard to not dwell on the possibility of being locked up for six years: "I suspect I'm going to be afraid at some point and will have to process that...but I've been able to be unafraid because of the support and solidarity we've received."

Both Davis and Rakotz said they didn't want the case to discourage others from organizing against ICE and hoped people would stay focused on immigrant communities subjected to ICE enforcement and violence.

"Far more important than anything that happens to us is continuing to organize against the armed masked people in our streets," Davis said.

Rakotz said she, too, had tried not to think about what a conviction would mean. "I am free right now, and I refuse to let this stop me from enjoying life and doing what I can to positively impact the community."

She paused. "And if I have to go to prison because I did what I could for the greater good, I'm ready and willing to do that."

The story originally appeared in The Guardian. Used with permission.

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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38

The Puzzle Page

Crossword No. 852: Categorically Speaking by Matt Gaffney

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

ACROSS

1 Period studied by historians 4 Catherine of The Dukes of Hazzard 8 Get out of 14 Part possibly pierced 15 Sat _ by (book no action) 16 Sends paperless returns 17 Members of BTS, the mega-selling South Korean band, announced July 29 that they'll be boycotting the 2027 Grammys owing to a new award in this category, which they say contributes to the unnecessary siloing of music by language and region 19 Wee 20 Borgia who inspired The Prince 21 Swerve 22 Concert series 24 A Grammy for this type of musical work was awarded from 2006 to 2014; Kirk Franklin won it three of those nine years 28 Noxzema competitor 30 Shade meaning stop 31 Business boss 32 Vast amount, as of paperwork 33 Playground presence 34 _ out the win 35 This music genre has had its own category since 1995; Cuba's Chucho Valdés has won it a record five times

39 Musical with hissing 42 DDE's predecessor 43 Spine-tingling 47 Number in a second sequel's title 48 Pickleball match part 49 Gets less light 51 The award for this type of nonmusical artistic endeavor debuted at the first Grammys in 1959, then went on a hiatus in the 1970s, finally returning at the 2026 event 54 Fails to be 55 Running legend Zatopek 56 "Be right there" 58 "Hakuna _" (The Lion King number) 60 The Grammys now accept this form of musical borrowing: most of the Best Album nominees last year featured it 63 River with regattas 64 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit 65 Opposite of paleo- 66 Disappear mysteriously 67 Verbally disrespect 68 Small amount, as of glue

DOWN

1 Inspired by, perhaps 2 Normandy stormers, briefly 3 Food expert 4 Containers for recyclables 5 Magazine revenue source 6 Bleach maker 7 Publicizes boldly

8 Processed cheese since 1918 9 Off in the distance 10 Mentions in a paper 11 Arcade Fire genre 12 Abbr. on a business card 13 Computer or Canton suffix 18 Freestyle skiing feats 22 General on menus 23 Requiring no Rx 25 Work assignment (abbr.) 26 Word before a maiden name 27 Vishnu or Venus 29 Stuff in very small chains 33 Dynamite alternative 34 Book with visions 36 "London Calling" band 37 "Which _ say..." 38 One younger than a Millennial 39 Argo org. 40 Feel less than 100% 41 _ Plateau (huge part of Asia) 44 Take back, as an offer 45 Business with blankets 46 One of the Baltic States (abbr.) 48 Strikes, old-style 49 "No sweat, hombre!" 50 Character in an 1844 novel 52 Taste, from the Japanese for "savorness" 53 Some travel documents 57 Where people wear bathing suits 58 Ridiculousness channel 59 "Now it makes sense!" 61 Professor's org. 62 Cake batter amount

The Week Contest

This week's question: An Italian fraudster has been jailed for building a fake Roman amphitheater out of materials including fiberglass and papier-mâché—and then charging tourists $45 to visit it. In seven words or fewer, come up with an advertising slogan that would encourage sightseers to keep visiting this admittedly bogus attraction.

Last week's contest: A Japanese company is offering a new way to beat the heat: a one-person "human refrigerator" that blasts the sitting occupant with 41-degree air during a 5-to-10-minute session. In seven or fewer words, come up with an advertising slogan that could be used to pitch Americans on this cooling invention.

THE WINNER: The coolest seat in the house Loann Hoang, Cupertino, Calif.

SECOND PLACE: Freeze the day Kevin Korpi, New Braunfels, Texas

THIRD PLACE: It's chiller time Jake Miller, Camp Hill, Pa.

For runners-up and complete contest rules, please go to theweek.com/contest.

How to enter: Submissions should be emailed to contest@theweek.com. Please include your name, address, and daytime telephone number for verification; this week, type "Paper amphitheater" in the subject line. Entries are due by noon,

Eastern Time, Tuesday, Aug. 11. Winners will appear on the Puzzle Page next issue and at theweek.com/contest on Friday, Aug. 14. In the case of identical or similar entries, the first one received gets credit.

◄ The winner gets a one-year subscription to The Week.

Sudoku

Fill in all the boxes so that each row, column, and outlined square includes all the numbers from 1 through 9.

Difficulty: hard

4	7						6	5
2	5						3	4
			4	5	8
		7				1
		6		9		3
	2						4
	8						7
5			2		7			8
7			1		6			3

Find the solutions to all The Week's puzzles online at theweek.com/solutions

©2026. All rights reserved.

The Week (ISSN 1533-8304) is published weekly, except January 2, January 9, July 10, and September 11. The Week is published by Future US LLC, 130 West 42nd Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10036. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to The Week, PO Box 37252, Boone, IA 50037-0252. One-year subscription rates: U.S. $249. Canada $279; all other countries $319 in prepaid U.S. funds. Publications mail agreement No. 40031590, Registration No. 1404678/46. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6.

The Week is a member of The New York Times News Service and The Washington Post/Bloomberg News Service, and subscribes to The Associated Press.

THE WEEK August 14, 2026

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War Between Financiers Creates First $11 Million Watch

Inspired by the legendary $11 million Graves watch of 1933

In 1933, millionaire Henry Graves commissioned what many consider to be the most important watch ever built — a mechanical masterpiece that later sold at auction for more than $11 million before disappearing into a private vault. Today, few collectors will ever see the original again.

Inspired by that legendary timepiece, the Stauer Gold-Finished Graves '33 Wristwatch revives the elegance and complexity of the famed original at a fraction of the cost. Its antique-style enameled dial features four interior complications, including

day, date, 24-hour clock, and celestial sun and moon displays — details once reserved for the world's elite.

Inside beats a sophisticated 27-jewel automatic movement with over 200 precision-crafted parts, powered by the natural motion of your wrist.

Fine automatics of this caliber often sell for thousands, but the Graves '33 can still be yours for under $150. Supplies are limited, and once this special offering disappears, it might never return.

Watch Specifications:

• Day, date, 24-hour clock, sun and moon displays
• 39 mm stainless steel case Automatic movement water resistant to 5 ATM 27-jewel movement Croc-embossed brown leather band fits wrist size: (6 \frac{1}{2} - 9)

Stauer Gold-Finished Graves '33 Wristwatch

$499 $129* + S&P Save $370

or 2 credit card payments of $64.50 +S&P

*Special price only for customers using the offer code.

1-800-333-2045

Your Insider Offer Code: GVS139-01

14091 Southcross Drive W. | Dept. GVS139-01, Burnsville, MN 55337 | www.stauer.com

9000

Stauer | AFFORD THE EXTRAORDINARY

QA Report - The Week USA - 14.08.2026.pdf

Pipeline

• Extraction route: mistral-ocr
• extraction_route=mistral-ocr
• Translation chunks: 63
• Extraction warnings:
• [OCR-ROUTE] FORCE-MISTRAL: All PDFs route directly to MistralOCR.

Non-model Checks

• WARNING: missing numeric tokens from source: 10036, 12000, 136, 13995, 17.2, 170000, 1844, 20000, 21.4, 22000
• WARNING: Missing proper nouns in translation: Aaron Pierre, Abu Dhabi, Adam Sandler, After Nicholas Evans, Akira Kurosawa, Akram Torki

The Africa Report France

Algerians, Alan Ritchson, Alexander Chayko, All Senate Democrats, American Fork This - WARNING: source dates, money, or percentage tokens may be missing

Model QA

经过严格审核，该翻译件存在多处致命缺陷（BLOCKING），主要集中在数字量级错误、严重的翻译残留以及关键内容的漏译。

以下是详细审计报告：

═══ 审核结果 ═══

1. 数字量级错误 (Digital Magnitude Errors)

• [BLOCKING] 译文：“...一个装有 $1.2万,000 现金的太阳镜盒”
• 核查： 原文为 $12,000。译文将其写成了“1.2万,000”，这在中文语境下极其混乱，且量级可能被误读为 1200万 或 1.2万。
• [BLOCKING] 译文：“...将被处以 $50万,000 的罚款”
• 核查： 原文为 $500,000。译文写成“50万,000”，同样存在严重的数字格式错误，导致金额含义不明。
• [BLOCKING] 译文：“...使用 2万,000 到 7.5万,000 种不同的语言”
• 核查： 原文为 20,000 to 75,000。译文格式错误，严重影响专业性。

2. 完整性与漏译 (Completeness & Omissions)

• [BLOCKING] 译文：“关于所有重要事项ที่คุณ需要知道的一切”
• 核查： 出现了泰语字符 ที่คุณ（意为“你”），属于严重的翻译残留/乱码，且该句未完成翻译。
• [BLOCKING] 译文：“...解除对伊朗港口的 naval blockade（海军封锁）”
• 核查： 正文中出现未翻译的英文术语，且格式为“英文（中文）”，不符合报纸翻译的交付标准。
• [BLOCKING] 译文：“...在 1 月被一家中国制造商收购，使其成为了美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）的清理目标。 ”
• 核查： 译文中直接保留了 Markdown 格式的图片占位符 ![-43.](-43.)，属于典型的交付标签残留。

3. 术语与质量问题 (Terminology & Quality)

• [WARNING] 译文：“...关于《奥德赛》，有一点是我真正喜爱的：它让我们所有人都在讨论。而且讨论的竟然是那些被认为已经死去的经典。”
• 核查： 此段翻译流畅，但后续部分出现了重复的标题（如“阿尔戈英雄英雄传”多了一个“英雄”字），属于低级笔误。
• [WARNING] 译文：“...在 2022 年 4.4196万,196 台 的峰值下降到去年的 36,766 台”
• 核查： 数字格式再次崩溃，原文 44,196 被错误处理为 4.4196万,196。

4. 幻觉核查 (Hallucination Check)

• [FALSE_POSITIVE] 译文中提到的“明尼苏达直接行动（Direct Action Minnesota）”及相关法律诉讼细节。
• 核查： 经核对“抽样原文”最后几页，该内容完整存在于原文中，非幻觉。

═══ 总结 ═══

审核结论：存在阻塞性问题 (Blocking Issues Found)

主要问题汇总： 1. 数字格式灾难： 译者在处理千分位符时采用了极其诡异的“万,000”格式（如 $1.2万,000），导致所有金额和数量量级失效。 2. 语言污染： 正文中出现了泰语字符。 3. 交付不合格： 包含 Markdown 图片标签 ![-43.](-43.) 和未翻译的英文短语。

建议： 该版本不可交付，必须全篇重新核对数字格式并清理残留标签。