Weekend Reading
Longreads for a deep summer weekend
“Data from a retired NASA mission has revealed evidence of an underground reservoir of water deep beneath the surface of Mars, according to new research. A team of scientists estimates that there may be enough water, trapped in tiny cracks and pores of rock in the middle of the Martian crust, to fill oceans on the planet’s surface. The groundwater would likely cover the entirety of Mars to a depth of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers), the study found. The data came from NASA’s InSight lander, which used a seismometer to study the interior of Mars from 2018 to 2022. Future astronauts exploring Mars would encounter a whole host of challenges if they tried to access the water, because it’s located between 7 and 12 miles (11.5 and 20 kilometers) beneath the surface, according to the study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But the finding uncovers new details about the geological history of Mars — and suggests a new place to search for life on the red planet if the water could ever be accessed. ‘Understanding the Martian water cycle is critical for understanding the evolution of the climate, surface and interior,’ said lead study author Vashan Wright, assistant professor and geophysicist at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in a statement. ‘A useful starting point is to identify where water is and how much is there.’” (Ashley Strickland/CNN)
“Yes, the scars of the 2016 campaign – in which sexism played a key role in Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s defeat by Trump – are still fresh for Democrats. But many hope that America has changed and has become more accepting of women in leadership roles. Harris’ gender, this argument goes, won’t be a significant deterrent for voters. On the surface, our recent nationally representative survey of 1,000 American adults supports this, with 51% of Americans agreeing with the statement: ‘America is ready for its first African American female president.’ Only 23% of Americans disagreed. Even so, some Republicans appear to think they can win by making gender an issue in the campaign. This is apparent in the sexist rhetoric that Trump and other Republicans are using when talking about Harris. Trump, who has a history of making sexist statements, asserted that foreign leaders would regard Harris as a ‘play toy,’ referred to her as unintelligent, and is now commenting on her appearance. Both The Associated Press and The New York Times have reported – based on unnamed sources – that Trump has also called Harris a ‘bitch’ in private, although Trump’s spokesman denied he used that term. In a similar sexist vein, Trump allies have attempted to turn Harris’ past romantic relationships into campaign issues, with one conservative commentator on Fox Business News crudely labeling Harris the ‘original hawk tuah girl,’ an obscene sexual reference. Will such attempts to exploit sexism as an electoral strategy backfire? Or, after all these years, might it still be out of reach for a woman to overcome sexist stereotypes and win the highest office in the United States?” (The Conversation)
“Next week, the Democratic National Convention returns to Chicago. It’s the same host city as in 1968, a year when fraught proceedings inside the convention hall were overshadowed by a violent police crackdown on antiwar protesters outside. (Thomas Whiteside reported on the scene for CJR.) It was a time of political upheaval that sounds familiar today: a Democratic president dropping out of the race, assassinations (or attempted ones), and protests against police brutality, racism, and an unpopular war. America is, of course, a very different place than it was fifty-six years ago, but the events of 1968 resonate today, especially for those who covered them. ‘The similarities are striking—and, I think, they may be misleading,’ said Robert Friedman, who watched history unfold from his perch as the editor in chief of the Columbia Spectator (where, just like this year, antiwar protesters took over Hamilton Hall). ‘The worst experience that I had as a reporter was the convention in Chicago in ’68,’ recalled Earl Caldwell, a longtime correspondent for the New York Times who covered the civil rights movement, and was in a motel room below Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated. Dan Rather, who found himself caught up in the melee inside the convention, said, ‘In Chicago in 1968, you knew it was the story and, to quote one of the sayings at the time, the whole world was watching.’” (Kevin Lind/CJR)
“He has put together a ticket, a platform and a record that should drive away every single woman voter including but not limited to his wife Melania (who does not seem to like him very much to begin with), his daughter Ivanka (who has always acted as though she did not want her schmancy friends to know she was really a Trump) and his daughter Poor Tiffany (who Trump does not seem to actually remember is his daughter in the first place.) As for Trump’s other female relatives, it is clear he would not get many votes from them. Trump’s own mother lamented ‘What kind of a son have I created?’ and has had even worse comments about him attributed to her. His sister Maryanne was quoted as saying ‘He has no principles.’ She was quoted saying this in a book by his niece (my friend) Mary Trump, ‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man’ which absolutely excoriates our once and would-be future monster-in-chief. And of course, Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana, said he raped her. Which, as we know, is not the only time he has been accused of rape. Indeed, a jury (and a judge) concluded that he had raped hero-journalist E. Jean Caroll. And he has been accused of sexual assault by many, many other women. Which is not surprising because Trump bragged about assaulting women…on national television.So, at this point you probably are thinking, job done—the women in his family can’t stand him and he’s a serial abuser of women, of course no self-respecting woman could vote for him.” (David Rothkopf)
“Listening to Trump and his MAGA acolytes in the Party, one might wonder if America is in the throes of its own Bolshevik revolution. That cataclysm, one of the great events of the 20th Century, did create a communist state. After centuries of Czarist abuse of a massive peasant class, the people suffering economic hardship and food shortages rose up, killed the royals, sent the rich they didn’t kill packing, abolished private property, and eventually became the Soviet Union. Russians did seize the means of production and they did put the workers in charge of the farms and factories, the essence of Marxism. And for decades to come, that’s how it worked behind the Iron Curtain. You can look far and wide in America today and be hard-pressed to find community ownership of any business. If workers are taking over factories, if farmworkers are seizing tractors and land, we haven’t heard of it. Across our country, there certainly are a lot of ‘individual people who do not own land, factories or machinery’ - the Kids’ Britannica defining element of communism. But neither the revolutionary masses nor the U.S. government took those things away from them. Trump has been flinging around Communist / Marxist labels like Mardi Gras beads since he sailed down the golden escalator. But he ratcheted it up in the last year, timed to his criminal indictments. It’s always effective with some political consumers.” (Nina Burleigh/American Freakshow)
“Global gaming giants are increasingly looking to Africa for growth as the continent’s video games market rapidly expands. The African gaming sector’s annual revenue is expected to cross $1 billion for the first time this year, up from $862.1 million in 2022. The Middle East and Africa games market is projected to record the highest growth among all regions this year, at 8.9%, according to new report by games market data provider Newzoo. By comparison, the North American market is expected to grow by just 0.6%. The world’s youngest population, rapidly expanding internet connectivity, and increasingly widespread smartphone access are among factors driving growth of Africa’s games market. Gaming startups on the continent are attracting more funding and firms such as Disney, Electronic Arts (EA) and Riot Games are partnering with African gaming studios.” (Martin K.N Siele/semafor)
“An unchartered area in the foothills of the Southern Pyrenees in Spain is providing insights into a poorly known period of Neanderthal history, offering clues that could help archaeologists uncover the mystery of their downfall, according to research from The Australian National University (ANU). Abric Pizarro is one of only a few sites worldwide dating from 100,000 to 65,000 years ago during a period called MIS 4. The researchers have gathered hundreds of thousands of artifacts, including stone tools, animal bones and other evidence, providing significant data about the Neanderthal way of life during that time—largely unknown in human history until now. Lead author and ANU archaeologist, Dr. Sofia Samper Carro, said that the findings show that Neanderthals knew the best ways to exploit the area and territory and were resilient through harsh climate conditions. ‘Our surprising findings at Abric Pizarro show how adaptable Neanderthals were. The animal bones we have recovered indicate that they were successfully exploiting the surrounding fauna, hunting red deer, horses and bison, but also eating freshwater turtles and rabbits, which imply a degree of planning rarely considered for Neanderthals,’ she said. According to the researchers, these new insights challenge widespread beliefs that Neanderthals only hunted large animals, such as horses and rhinoceros.” (Phys.org)
“Last week, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, was forced to resign from her position and flee the country. Throughout July, she had been cracking down on mass protests, led largely by college students, against her increasingly authoritarian rule. More than three hundred people were killed, and thousands were jailed. The protests continued to intensify, and Hasina soon lost the support of the country’s military and left for India. An interim government has been sworn in. It is led by Muhammad Yunus, an economist who, in 2006, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and includes some of the student protesters who had risen up to oppose Hasina; many of these same students can be seen directing traffic on the streets of Dhaka, the capital. Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, achieved independence in 1971, after a bloody war during which the Pakistani military killed hundreds of thousands of Bengalis, who eventually prevailed with help from India. Prior to Hasina’s downfall, she had ruled Bangladesh for fifteen years. Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (known as Mujib), was the most prominent leader of the country’s independence movement, and became Bangladesh’s first Prime Minister, and then its first President … (Subho Basu, McGill University) ‘Well, there were a couple of breaking points. The first is that sham elections took place in 2014, 2018, and one recently, and in these elections the opposition either boycotted or they were reduced to a hopeless minority. And so people were getting impatient. The second most important thing is that Sheikh Hasina could remain in power because she was borrowing significant amounts of foreign money, primarily from China, but also from Japan. This has led to major infrastructure projects, and economic growth—despite plunder and massive corruption—but recently inflation became a very significant issue, and the rate of growth declined. This was the background against which the current student rebellion took place. There was shrinkage in employment, and this is why the quota in the civil service, reserved for so-called descendants of the liberation fighters, actually became such an important issue to the students.’” (Isaac Chotiner/TNY)
“In October, the world was shocked when Friends star Matthew Perry was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his L.A. home. An autopsy report later revealed that Perry, 54, had died from the ‘acute effects’ of ketamine. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that five people have been charged in connection with Perry’s death, including his personal assistant and two doctors. The indictment also includes charges against Jasveen Sangha, a woman prosecutors refer to as ‘the Ketamine Queen’ and who they allege sold Perry around 50 vials of ketamine for $11,000, including those that led to his death. When police searched Sangha’s residence, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said they found ‘a drug-selling emporium’ with close to 80 vials of ketamine and thousands of pills including meth, cocaine, and Xanax and other prescription drugs … Per the indictment, prosecutors allege that Sangha, 41, has been selling unmarked vials of ketamine, referred to as ‘Dr. Pepper,’ out of her North Hollywood residence since at least 2019. Prosecutors claim someone in her network had bragged to a potential buyer via text that Sangha ‘only deals with high-end celebs,’ insisting that if her product wasn’t ‘great stuff she’d lose her business.’ Authorities also noted that Sangha called whoever she got her ketamine from ‘Master Chef’ and ‘Scientist.’ According to court documents, after initially seeking ketamine — a dissociative anesthetic — treatment for mental-health purposes, Perry began asking doctors to up his prescriptions. When his clinicians declined to do so, prosecutors claim Perry’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, began procuring ketamine from outside sources, including Sangha, in October 2023. Prosecutors claim Erik Fleming, one of Perry’s acquaintances who is also named as a defendant, coordinated the drug deal by bringing cash from Iwamasa to Sangha’s ‘stash house’ in North Hollywood. According to the indictment, on the day news broke of Perry’s death, Sangha texted Fleming, ‘Delete all our messages.’” (Emily Leibart/NYMag)
“José Castelo Branco had been wearing the same Balmain leggings for two weeks. Anyone who knows knows this to be a scandal. The spouse of a diamond heiress and a Kardashian-level star in Portugal, José always lived for a certain level of luxury. Traveling from New York to Lisbon for what was supposed to be a short trip, José brought the usual 13 Louis Vuitton suitcases and paid thousands of dollars in excess baggage fees. But when José and I met up this May in the Portuguese capital, it was in a small apartment on a suburban street, and circumstances did not allow for such standards of presentation. Betty Grafstein, an elderly British aristocrat and José’s wife of nearly 30 years, had accused José of physical and psychological abuse. Portuguese authorities were investigating. The couple’s shared wardrobe and jewelry collection were now the subject of a marital dispute. José was effectively couch surfing at the apartment of a loyal friend and down to a single outfit—the same one José had worn to jail, minus a Birkin bag, sold to help pay legal fees.José’s problems started a month earlier, on April 20, 2024, when Betty ended up in the hospital after a fall. According to Betty’s statement to doctors treating her for a fractured femur and an injured wrist, José had intentionally pushed her. The hospital made an official complaint to authorities. José was arrested and spent the night in jail. Paparazzi swarmed outside José’s cell window. How was José doing? ‘Lindamente.’ (Beautifully.)” (Alice Hines/VF)