Jeff Sessions Questionable Senate Testimony on Russia

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy

Matthew Stewart

The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.

1. The Aristocracy Is Dead …

For about a week every year in my childhood, I was a member of one of America’s fading aristocracies. Sometimes around Christmas, more often on the Fourth of July, my family would take up residence at one of my grandparents’ country clubs in Chicago, Palm Beach, or Asheville, North Carolina. The breakfast buffets were magnificent, and Grandfather was a jovial host, always ready with a familiar story, rarely missing an opportunity for gentle instruction on proper club etiquette. At the age of 11 or 12, I gathered from him, between his puffs of cigar smoke, that we owed our weeks of plenty to Great-Grandfather, Colonel Robert W. Stewart, a Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt who made his fortune as the chairman of Standard Oil of Indiana in the 1920s. I was also given to understand that, for reasons traceable to some ancient and incomprehensible dispute, the Rockefellers were the mortal enemies of our clan.

Asylum seekers walk down Roxham Road to cross into Quebec at the U.S.-Canada border in 2017. — Christinne Muschi / Reuters

‘There’s a Perception That Canada Is Being Invaded’

Sigal Samuel

Justin Trudeau’s government has started rejecting more refugee claims from migrants who cross the U.S.-Canada border on foot.

It may seem paradoxical. Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to issue an open invitation to refugees with a tweet declaring, “to those fleeing persecution, terror & war ... #WelcomeToCanada.” This year, his government is working hard to deter thousands of people who are walking over the U.S. border to seek asylum in Canada.

Canada has begun granting refugee status to fewer irregular border crossers—that is, people who walk into the country without going through a designated port of entry. Since President Donald Trump was elected, over 27,000 people have crossed into Canada overland. (By comparison, only 2,000 people did this in 2016.) In 2017, the country granted refugee status to 53 percent of such border crossers, but that number was down to 40 percent in the first three months of this year, Reuters reported. Did Trudeau change his mind about Canada’s welcoming posture in general? Or is something else at work here?

What's Really Making Us Fat?

Kristin Wartman

It may not be as simple as calories in, calories out. New research reveals a far more complex equation for weight gain that places at least some of the blame on organic pollutants.

Conventional wisdom says that weight gain or loss is based on the energy balance model of "calories in, calories out," which is often reduced to the simple refrain, "eat less, and exercise more." But new research reveals a far more complex equation that appears to rest on several other important factors affecting weight gain. Researchers in a relatively new field are looking at the role of industrial chemicals and non-caloric aspects of foods -- called obesogens -- in weight gain. Scientists conducting this research believe that these substances that are now prevalent in our food supply may be altering the way our bodies store fat and regulate our metabolism. But not everyone agrees. Many scientists, nutritionists, and doctors are still firm believers in the energy balance model. A debate has ensued, leaving a rather unclear picture as to what's really at work behind our nation's spike in obesity.

A toddler hugs the legs of a man next to a palm tree outside — Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters

A Surprising Reason to Worry About Low Birth Rates

Olga Khazan

They’re linked to an increase in populist sentiments.

Discussion about the great American baby bust often seems meant to induce fear. The concern is that with fewer babies, economic growth will plummet, and too-few workers will have to shoulder the burden of an aging population. But if I’m being honest, the latest news about the drop in American births did not raise my blood pressure much.

Maybe it’s because I, myself, am kind of “eh” on kids in general. Maybe I’ve just been watching too many men beseech women to do their feminine duties on Handmaid’s Tale. So American women are opting out of parenting? Good for them! More time for Netflix, making money, reading my articles—to name just three very pleasurable activities that don’t cause stretch marks.

President Trump sits in the Cabinet Room of the White House. — Olivier Douliery / Getty Images

What Would Actually Happen if Trump Refused a Subpoena?

Paul Rosenzweig

If the president does not want to testify in Robert Mueller’s investigation, there simply is no realistic way for the courts to physically force him to do so.

As President Trump and Special Counsel Robert Mueller continue to dance around the possibility of an interview, it is, perhaps, useful to think about how a confrontation between the two might play out. Imagine that negotiations come to an unsuccessful conclusion and Mueller is motivated to issue a subpoena to Trump.

What happens then?

As far as the public record reflects, a president has only been subpoenaed once before, when Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr tried to compel former President Bill Clinton to appear in front of a grand jury during his sprawling inquiry into the Clintons in the 1990s, an investigation in which I served as a senior counsel. In the end, Clinton agreed to a voluntary interview and the subpoena was withdrawn, so the country never learned what could happen if a president were to fight a subpoena.

Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition

Emily Esfahani Smith

There's more to life than leaving home.

This month, many of the nation's best and brightest high school seniors will receive thick envelopes in the mail announcing their admission to the college of their dreams. According to a 2011 survey, about 60 percent of them will go to their first-choice schools. For many of them, going away to college will be like crossing the Rubicon. They will leave their families—their homes—and probably not return for many years, if at all.

That was journalist Rod Dreher's path. Dreher grew up in the small southern community of Starhill, Louisiana, 35 miles northwest of Baton Rouge. His family goes back five generations there. His father was a part-time farmer and sanitarian; his mother drove a school bus. His younger sister Ruthie loved hunting and fishing, even as a little girl.

A boy looking into a camera with posters on the wall behind him — MrBeast / YouTube

‘YouTube's Biggest Philanthropist’ Has a History of Homophobic Comments

Taylor Lorenz

MrBeast has gone viral for giving away hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he has previously used slurs and made offensive jokes.

Over the past year, Jimmy, a 20-year-old YouTuber known as “MrBeast” who chooses not to reveal his last name in his videos, has gone repeatedly viral for giving away massive amounts of cash. Known to many in the community as “YouTube’s biggest philanthropist,” to date, he has donated more than $500,000 to people including an Uber driver, waitress, random people in parking lots, Twitch streamers, and homeless people in his North Carolina neighborhood—all of which has been captured on his vlog.

His family-friendly stunts have garnered an audience of nearly five million subscribers on YouTube and his channel is growing exponentially by the day.

In a recent video titled, “I Gave $500,000 To Random People,” Drake’s song “God’s Plan” plays over a montage of previous videos of Jimmy throwing out hundreds of dollars to strangers. He gave three million pennies ($30,000 dollars) to his 3 millionth subscriber, over tipped his cab drivers, and more. In one video he dropped $20,000 out of a drone, in another he gave his mom $100,000 to help pay off her mortgage.

Women react to the results of Ireland's abortion referendum — Max Rossi / Reuters

A ‘Quiet Revolution’ Comes to Ireland

Yasmeen Serhan

Thirty-five years after implementing the country’s constitutional ban on abortion, an overwhelming majority of Irish people voted to repeal it.

Updated at 1:51 p.m. ET

DUBLIN—It was clear a big change was coming to Ireland even as the final votes were still being tallied: Exit polls Friday night showed an overwhelming majority of Irish citizens had voted “Yes” to overturn their country’s constitutional ban on abortion. And on Saturday, it was official.

It was supposed to be a much closer contest, and the overwhelming margin in the final tally conflicted with polls leading up to the vote, which seemed to show a public about evenly split on the issue. In the end, roughly 66 percent of Irish voters supported repealing the Irish constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which outlawed abortion by giving an unborn fetus equal right to life to that of a pregnant woman. Just about half that number—roughly 33 percent—voted to maintain the abortion ban.

How the Enlightenment Ends

Henry A. Kissinger

Philosophically, intellectually—in every way—human society is unprepared for the rise of artificial intelligence.

Three years ago, at a conference on transatlantic issues, the subject of artificial intelligence appeared on the agenda. I was on the verge of skipping that session—it lay outside my usual concerns—but the beginning of the presentation held me in my seat.

The speaker described the workings of a computer program that would soon challenge international champions in the game Go. I was amazed that a computer could master Go, which is more complex than chess. In it, each player deploys 180 or 181 pieces (depending on which color he or she chooses), placed alternately on an initially empty board; victory goes to the side that, by making better strategic decisions, immobilizes his or her opponent by more effectively controlling territory.

A tall building on a college campus — Charles Mostoller / Reuters

The Two Most Important College-Admissions Criteria Now Mean Less

Jeffrey Selingo

When so many students have outstanding grades and test scores, schools have to get creative about triaging applicants.

For generations, two numbers have signaled whether a student could hope to get into a top college: his or her standardized test score and his or her grade-point average.

In the past 15 years, though, these lodestars have come to mean less and less. The SAT has been redesigned twice in that time, making it difficult for admissions officers to assess, for instance, whether last year’s uptick in average scores was the result of better students or just a different test. What’s more, half of American teenagers now graduate high school with an A average, according to a recent study. With application numbers at record highs, highly selective colleges are forced to make impossible choices, assigning a fixed number of slots to a growing pool of students who, each year, are harder to differentiate using these two long-standing metrics.