Newsweek International January 06-13, 2023

1996 “The paradox of our time is that we are feeling bad about doing well,” Newsweek explored the nation’s gloom. “We didn’t merely expect things to get better. We expected all social problems to be solved. What frightens and infuriates us now is that we haven’t arrived at this new, improved America.” Today, people seem to be mired in similar discontent. Research shows that 65 percent of Americans don’t trust Washington to do the right thing, a sentiment that lasted for two decades. The 2021 index of citizens’ satisfaction with federal services dropped to an all-time low, 63.4 out of 100. 1975 “Motivations for the slaughter are as various—and perverse—as human nature,” Newsweek said. “Pesticides take their toll. So do zoos, the pet trade and the demands of scientific research.”…

FEATURED EPISODE The Debate A civil discussion of hot-button issues of the day MARKETING PLOY OR GENUINE INFORMATION TACTIC? ▸ How much significance is there in the release of Twitter files about the Hunter Biden scandal since it’s not news that it was suppressed at first? Plus: What’s behind Kyrsten Sinema’s defection from the Democratic party? And why Americans aren’t sure whether the U.S. is supportive enough of protests against authoritarian regimes. HOSTS ▸ Kristal Knight, Democratic political operative and Andrew Tallman, host of The Daily Break IN THEIR WORDS ▸ “Twitter’s not reality. It’s its own alternate reality. Most Americans don’t pay attention to it.” DON’T MISS PARTING SHOT Your weekly dose of everything pop culture ‘Like Playing Cleopatra’ ▸ Naomi Ackie asks “how you humanize someone you’ve held…

In FocusTHE NEWS IN PICTURESTOKYO Guests visit the “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo on December 19. The Dior retrospective, which has previously been a hit at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, has been modified to reflect the designer and French fashion house’s relationship with Japan over the past 70 years and will run until May 28.…

Periscope NEWS, OPINION + ANALYSISLAW ABORTION RIGHTS GROUPS HAVE RAISED concerns that a Donald Trump-nominated federal judge approving an anti-contraception lawsuit is proof the GOP will go further restricting the procedure post Roe v. Wade. Matthew Kacsmaryk, a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, recently issued a ruling in the case of Deanda v. Becerra, a lawsuit filed by a Christian father hoping to block the Title X federal program. In his suit, Alexander Deanda argues that Title X, which makes federally funded family planning services available to anyone, including minors, violates his constitutional rights as a parent. Deanda claims that as he is raising his children as Christians and they therefore should “practice abstinence and refrain from sexual intercourse until marriage,” Title…

Kacsmaryk was nominated to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas by president Trump in 2017 to fill the seat vacated by Mary Lou Robinson. The Senate later confirmed his appointment in June 2019 by a 52-46 vote. That same month, a coalition of 75 LGBTQ and allied groups wrote a letter to Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) calling for them to oppose the confirmation because of his Kacsmaryk’s anti-LGBTQ views. They wrote, “Kacsmaryk has challenged LGBT people’s right to form families at all, and argued that the families that they have formed are less legitimate than other families.” “He has denied in some cases that LGBT people really exist. His record reveals that he will be incapable of treating LGBT litigants fairly—no…

THE SILENCE IS THE WORST. When my twin brother, Paul Whelan, doesn’t call us from the Russian labor colony where he is held hostage, we worry. Well, we worry all the time. But particularly when he’s silent. Paul calls home almost every day. When he doesn’t, it usually means the routine human rights abuses have become something else. We already know that Paul is woken every two hours every night. Imagine not being able to sleep for more than two hours at a time for two years. We also know he’s been put in solitary confinement for 30 days at a time. The United Nations describes that as torture. Paul’s calls to our parents are such a lifeline. I have not spoken to Paul since October 2018 when we were…