Innholdsfortegnelse for 10/06/2017 i Newsweek International

“I should not have to stop wearing my coat (that keeps me warm) for people not to discriminate against me.”» P. 14 Moore ranted about divisions in America and weirdly cited schisms between the “reds from yellows.” HIS NAME MAY SOUND LIKE THAT OF a comic book villain, but Senator Luther Strange is a pretty normal Republican—at least by Alabama standards. Since former Governor Robert Bentley appointed him to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate in February, Strange has voted along conservative lines, backing the repeal of Obamacare, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and so on. So it’s no surprise that Strange, a former energy lobbyist and state attorney general, has earned the support of GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump. But these…

It was a daring escape plan, one that started in the elevator of a Moscow courthouse. On August 1, two Russian police officers were leading five murder suspects to a court hearing. But as the elevator ascended, investigators say, one suspect—his hands cuffed in front of him—began to choke an officer from behind, while his fellow defendants swiftly disarmed the other. Clutching their newly acquired weapons, the men burst out of the elevator on the third floor of the courthouse and began firing at members of Russia’s National Guard, but the state security force quickly overwhelmed the prisoners. Three suspects were killed in the gun battle; another two suffered serious injuries, and one would later die in a Moscow hospital. Russian television soon aired footage of the suspects lying in…

“AN EXTREME PRESENT HEDONIST WILL SAY WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PUMP UP HIS EGO AND ASSUAGE HIS INHERENT LOW SELF›ESTEEM.” THROUGH OUR OBSERVATION, IT was glaringly apparent that Donald Trump embodied a specific personality type: an unbridled, or extreme, present hedonist. As the words suggest, present hedonists live in the moment, without much thought of any consequences of their actions or of the future. An extreme present hedonist will say whatever it takes to pump up his ego and to assuage his inherent low self-esteem, without any thought for past reality or for the potentially devastating future outcomes. Our assertion that Trump is among the most extreme present hedonists we have ever witnessed comes from the plethora of written and recorded material on him. The extreme present hedonist’s impulsive thought…

SOMETIMES, SCIENCE IS VERY, VERY SERIOUS—IT MAKES FORTUNES, ASKS the big questions and saves lives. But science isn’t done by robots, and there usually isn’t a straight line between question and answer. And the quirks of scientists and the rabbit holes they investigate can have important implications for science. (Remember, the world’s first antibiotic, penicillin, was originally “mold juice” that got out of control over a vacation.) That’s the side of the scientific process celebrated by the Ig Nobels, an annual recognition of studies that “first make people laugh, then make them think.” Previous awards have honored research on the psychology of lying, the unboiling of eggs, the ubiquity of the word huh and the turning of old ammunition into diamonds, among many other off-kilter accomplishments. Unlike the Nobel Prizes…

“We’re in this for eight years and then eight years of President Pence.” HIS CRITICS HAVE CALLED HIM A BIGOT AND CAST DOUBT ON HIS credentials. But within months of joining the new administration, Sebastian Gorka, a self-styled counterterrorism expert and former editor at Breitbart News, became a White House favorite. President Donald Trump loved how he performed on television, aggressively defending the White House on everything from threatening North Korea to failing to condemn the bombing of a mosque. In August, however, Gorka and his former Breitbart colleague Steve Bannon got booted out of the White House. Gorka’s gone, but he insists he’s not forgotten. He claimed a role in crafting the president’s fiery speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September. [The White House denies this.] So…

“THERE HAVE BEEN PRESIDENTS WHO COULD BE SAID TO BE NARCISSISTIC, BUT NONE HAVE SHOWN SOCIOPATHIC QUALITIES TO THE DEGREE SEEN IN TRUMP.” BECAUSE DONALD TRUMP HAS BEEN a very public figure for many years, we are in an excellent position to know his behaviors—his speech and actions—which are precisely the basis for making an assessment of his dangerousness, whether we assess him using the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for antisocial personality disorder, as below, or whether we apply our knowledge of malignant narcissism, both of which include the signs and symptoms of sociopathy. Let us consider these in turn. Lack of Empathy for Others; Lack of Remorse; Lying and Cheating Trump’s mocking the disability of a handicapped reporter, unconcern for the safety…

The parrots didn’t make very courteous roommates to the biologists bunked down next door. WHEN HURRICANE IRMA STARTED barreling toward Puerto Rico, people across the island launched into storm preparations. Edwin Muñiz and Tom White were among them, but they had a somewhat different plan from most for dealing with the storm, seeing as they had to take care of themselves and ensure the safety of a bunch of bright-green individuals covered in feathers. That’s because their jobs involve protecting 230 endangered Puerto Rican parrots. The species, which has been protected under the Endangered Species Act for five decades, is the only parrot found on U.S. soil. And on its home island, the parrot is considered “an icon,” according to Muñiz, a field supervisor at the Caribbean Ecological Services Office…

BOSTON CELTIC JAYSON TATUM, ONE OF THE top young players in basketball, stood out in the cramped, humid room in midtown Manhattan. It wasn’t just his 6-feet-8 inch height; Tatum, along with several other NBA stars—including C.J. McCollum of the Portland Trail Blazers and Brooklyn Nets guard D’Angelo Russell—was moving through a crowd of fanatic basketball fans, relatively unbothered, as if they were soccer players. It was disconcerting but easily explained. The event wasn’t about the actual game of basketball, it was about its virtual counterpart, NBA 2K. Booze flowed from a bar in the back, and TVs lined the room’s length, momentary distractions for a crowd waiting for the chance to man the joysticks. And the gamers, here to test the latest iteration, 2K18, were too focused on describing…

California’s gang database included 42 people who were babies when they were listed as gang members. HE WAS BUSTED FOR HIS FLANNEL coat—and not by the fashion police. The authorities stopped him on his way home from work and thought he was in a gang. Or so the man realized after police in Portland, Oregon, sent him a letter saying they’d added him to a list of known gang members. “I did tell the cops that I use[d] to bang,” the man wrote in a 2015 appeal letter obtained by Newsweek (his name was redacted from it). “But I am no longer active and…[am trying] to get my life straighten[ed] out and take care of my two kids…. I should not have to stop wear[ing] my coat (that keeps me…

Scientists have identified a link between certain gut bacteria profiles and just about every chronic medical condition, from autism to common allergies . MOST VEGANS ARE HAPPY TO reel off the reasons a plant-based diet is superior to that of a carnivore. Going strictly animal-free can reduce one’s carbon footprint, cut the risk for cancer and chronic diseases, prevent animal cruelty and provide an excuse to make a really great dessert. But one thing that’s probably not on your average vegan’s list is that this restrictive diet improves the quality of one’s poop—at least according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Last month, the animal rights organization issued a call for more healthy vegans to consider becoming stool super-donors (i.e., providing specimens on a regular basis) to…

“American Made” is classic Cruise: the daredevil and the charming scammer with a whiff of desperation. THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TWO of him: Tom Cruise the star—somehow cocksure and eager to please—who, by 26, had become the ideal of a Hollywood leading man, deftly juggling romantic, comedy, serious acting and action movies. (In 1996 alone, he got an Oscar nomination for Jerry Maguire and launched a billion-dollar action franchise, playing Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible.) And Tom Cruise the man, always a little problematic thanks to his involvement with Scientology—a connection that seemed more quirky than strange until his divorce from Nicole Kidman in 2001, blamed in part on the church. And then, in May 2005, Cruise made a giddy spectacle of himself on The Oprah Winfrey Show, jumping up…