Issue October 7, 2016 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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IN THIS ISSUEEditor’s letterCaught up in the all-consuming presidential race, you could be forgiven for forgetting that there are a few hundred other political contests being decided on Nov. 8—particularly for Congress. It’s become conventional wisdom that our lawmakers don’t get much done in a presidential election year, but the 114th Congress is doing its best to land the title of “Most Do-Nothing” yet. Of the 219 bills Congress passed before it went on its seven-week summer recess—the longest hiatus since at least 1960—195 were for minor resolutions, like post-office namings. The Senate is on track to work the fewest days in a session in six decades. After months of foot-dragging on Zika funding and Flint, Mich., aid, lawmakers managed to address these public-health crises only as part of a giant, sloppy stopgap…2 min

NEWSClinton tops Trump in the first debateWhat happenedHillary Clinton was this week widely declared the winner of her first presidential debate with Donald Trump, a deeply antagonistic encounter that focused as much on personality as on policy. Watched by a record 84 million TV viewers, the 90-minute face-off came as Clinton’s poll lead had nearly evaporated. The Democratic nominee went on the offense, labeling her opponent’s tax plan as “Trumped-up trickle-down” economics, chiding him for celebrating the 2007 housing-market collapse as an opportunity to buy cheap property— “That’s called business,” he retorted—and suggesting he hadn’t released his tax returns because he was hiding something. “Maybe he’s not as rich as he says he is,” she said. “Or maybe he has paid nothing in federal income taxes.” Trump seemed to confirm that he paid no income taxes,…5 min

NEWSAssad and Putin pummel Aleppo after cease-fire failsWhat happenedHundreds of people were killed in Aleppo this week as the Syrian government and its ally Russia launched one of the most intense bombing campaigns of the five-year civil war, just days after the collapse of a cease-fire negotiated by Washington and Moscow. Airstrikes destroyed two hospitals and flattened entire neighborhoods in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, and “bunker buster” bombs sent shock waves rippling across city blocks. The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said he had seen footage of incendiary bombs “that create fireballs of such intensity that they light up the pitch darkness in eastern Aleppo, as if it is actually daylight.” Pro-regime forces stepped up their ground offensive on eastern Aleppo, where 250,000 civilians—including 100,000 children—have been encircled for 31 weeks and are fast…5 min

NEWSCharlotte: Were the protests justified?The angry protests last week in Charlotte, N.C., may have been triggered by the death of Keith Lamont Scott, said Charles Blow in The New York Times, but make no mistake: This was a “primal scream” of rage and frustration from a black community driven “beyond the breaking point” by police violence. Scott, 43, was killed by cops last week while waiting for his son’s school bus in a Charlotte parking lot. Police say that they saw him rolling a marijuana joint and ordered him to leave his car, and that when he finally did, he emerged holding a handgun. But a police video does not show Scott making any sudden aggressive movement toward police, and in fact, he was shot as he was backing away. Scott’s shooting came only…5 min

NEWSThe U.S. at a glance ...Burlington, Wash.Macy’s shooting: Five people were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Cascade Mall in Burlington last week, gunning down a teenage girl, three women, and another man at a Macy’s makeup counter before calmly setting his rifle down and walking out of the store. After an hours-long manhunt, alleged shooter Arcan Cetin, 20, was arrested while walking in a “zombie-like” state close to his home in nearby Oak Harbor. Authorities said that Cetin—who emigrated from Turkey as a young boy and is a legal permanent U.S. resident—confessed to the shooting, but that they didn’t yet know his motive. The suspect’s family said he had “mental health issues” and had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression in 2015 after being charged with assaulting his stepfather. Cetin has been…4 min

NEWSThe world at a glance ...Torez, UkraineRussian missile downed plane: Confirming U.S. findings, an international investigation has concluded that Russia was complicit in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine two years ago, which killed all 298 people on board. The missile system that hit the plane was brought across the border from Russia at the request of Moscow-backed separatists—who wanted it to fend off airstrikes by Ukrainian jets—and returned to Russia the same day, the Dutch-led team of prosecutors said this week. The report drew on satellite information, intercepted phone calls, social media posts, and witness testimony. It does not say who gave the order to move the missile system or fire on the plane. Flight 17 was bound from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur; most of the dead were Dutch citizens.…7 min

Issue October 7, 2016 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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