The News
November 15, 2017
It’s Wednesday, the midpoint of the week! We’ve been on a bit of a hiatus due to recent scheduling conflicts but have returned with a mid-November update on the headlines and analyses of the past few weeks. With that said, let’s recap.
Last Sunday, a gunman walked into a church in Texas and opened fire on, killing 26 people while injuring 20 in Sutherland Springs, leaving 7% of the town’s population dead. The shooter, former airman David Patrick Kelley, was discharged from the military based on his history of domestic violence against his wife and stepson, yet had access to a firearm due to an the Air Force’s failure to report Kelley’s violent history to the FBI. Separately, a shooting at an elementary school in Rancho Tehama in northern California left at least four dead.
Elsewhere, Election Day 2017 brought a striking rebuke to Republicans and the Trump administration, as Democrats claimed two open seats for governor in New Jersey and Virginia while making headway in state legislatures across the country. In other headlines, the Washington Post broke news that Roy Moore, the Republican senate nominee in Alabama, engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior around several women when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers in the 1970s; The New York Times reported on a series of sexual misconduct allegations against comedian Louis C.K.; the Saudi government purged enemies of the crown prince; and The Atlantic detailed that Donald Trump, Jr. corresponded with WikiLeaks over the topic hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential campaign.
As always, enjoy the week ahead and thanks for reading the newsletter.
Cheers,
The Wonks Team
Politics and Public Policy
- The Washington Post reports on the expiring immigration protection statuses of U.S. residents from multiple countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, along with background information on the Department of Homeland Security’s Temporary Protection Status program.
- FiveThirtyEight examines how the CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News all differ in coverage of Russia meddling in the 2016 election, finding significantly different priorities on the indictments issued by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the opposition research dossier on Donald Trump.
- The New York Times’ Interpreter column analyzes why mass shootings remain a uniquely American problem, comparing crime, mental health, and gun ownership statistics between the U.S. and other nations.
- Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight posts his postmortem on the Democratic Party’s victories in 2017 and what it portends for the 2018-midterm elections, given President Trump’s low approval rating and dysfunction in Congress.
- The Upshot evaluates how public polling firms have changed little of their surveying methods following the opinion polling mishaps of 2016 that underestimated the Republican lean of less-educated white voters.
- NPR outlines the impact of the Republican tax proposal that reduces the number of tax brackets from seven to four across various groups, including middle-income earners, homeowners, families, and more.
Business, Science, and Health
- Quartz Obsession explains the cultural significance of mezcal — the Mexican liquor distilled from wild agave — describing the production process of the liquor, its distinguishing qualities from tequila, and more.
- Gizmodo investigates how Facebook creates its “Find Friends” recommendations, detailing how Facebook scraps users’ contact information and data from phones and emails without their knowledge to generate a network of “shadow profiles.”
- NPR assesses the relationship between domestic violence and mass shootings, citing the criminal records of perpetrators like David Patrick Kelley.
- James Hamblin of The Atlantic reflects on the inefficiencies of receiving cocktail napkins with beverage service while on an airplane.
- The San Francisco Chronicle examines how insurance companies profit from low-cost insurance plans created as a part of California’s expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Sports and Culture
- Jonah Keri of CBS Sports chronicles how the Houston Astros went from the worst team in baseball over the 2011–2013 seasons to the World Series champions in 2017, tanking games and whiffing on draft picks before developing home-grown stars along the way.
- Dan McQuade of Deadspin writes an appreciation for Roy Halladay, the retired Philadelphia Phillies pitcher who last Tuesday in a plane crash.
- The A.V. Club interviews comedian Hari Kondabalu on his new documentary “The Problem with Apu” and the limited representations of Indian Americans and South Asians in pop culture.
- Jay Caspian Kang of The New York Times Magazine profiles the rise of Barstool Sports, chronicling the sport site’s fall out with ESPN, Barstool’s fan base of “average” guys, and its association with toxic masculine culture and alt-right trolling.
- The Ringer ranks the top 50 superhero movies of all time based on each film’s box office returns, critical reception, as well as more qualitative features like rewatchability or timelessness.
- Bill Barnwell of ESPN evaluates the NFC playoff picture, determining which teams are most likely to win their divisions or claim wildcard berths at the midway point of the season.
