Newsweek 11/30/2018

1963 “In one sudden, awful convulsion of history last week, the majesty and the burdens of the presidency of the United States shifted from one man to another,” Newsweek declared. President John F. Kennedy was dead, shot on November 22 in Dallas, and so was his assassin, identified as a “self-styled Marxist” named Lee Harvey Oswald. As Lyndon Johnson took office as the 36th president, “it was left to a sorrowing nation to answer his call for help—and to pray with him for G d’s.” 1947 An Italian protester resisting arrest for corn hoarding illustrated a wave of violence in Italy and France. The cause, reported Newsweek, was “Communist action in the form of riots and strikes.” A further prediction of civil war didn’t come to pass, but America’s fear of the “Red…

The Camp Fire burns near a home atop a ridge in Northern California on November 10. The worst wildfire in California history, the blaze tore through 150,000 acres and 11,800 structures, killing at least 77 people. The town of Paradise was destroyed. As of November 19, more than 900 were reported missing, though authorities said that number could include people who were counted twice or others who may not know they had been reported. Thousands are now homeless, living in tent cities and shelters. To the south, firefighters battled another blaze, the Woolsey Fire, which torched 98,000 acres and killed three.…

Reporters surround supporters of Jamal Khashoggi in the courtyard of Faith mosque during a funeral for the slain journalist on November 16. According to Turkish officials, Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident critical of his government, was dismembered by Saudi agents in their country’s Istanbul consulate on October 2. His body has not been found. Saudi Arabia has acknowledged the plot while seeking to absolve Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of responsibility. On the day of the funeral, however, the CIA concluded that the crown prince had ordered the killing. BULENT KILIC BULENT KILIC/AFP/GETTY; JOHN WESSELS/AFP/GETTY; HIMANSHU SHARMA/AFP/GETTY…

IN EARLY OCTOBER, VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE gave a speech in Washington, D.C., that, to many foreign policy analysts, signaled nothing less than the formal onset of a 21st-century cold war. This time, China, a single-party dictatorship and the world’s second-largest economy, is cast as the United States’ overarching adversary. Now, President Donald Trump is set to sit down with the man who leads China, Xi Jinping, at the G-20 summit in December, in what may be a last effort to avoid a potentially ruinous trade war. But who is Xi, what does he believe and how does he govern? French journalist François Bougon set out to answer these questions in a new book, Inside the Mind of Xi Jinping. As a former Beijing correspondent for Agence France-Presse, he watched Xi,…

AN ESTIMATED 43.5 MILLION Americans are taking care of aging relatives and friends, sacrificing time, money and sometimes their careers and personal health. They are doing the work of professional caregivers, who spend years training for the job. As baby boomers age, the demand for unpaid caregivers is rising. Meanwhile, thanks to smaller family sizes, higher divorce rates and increasingly demanding jobs, the number of people available to help their elderly loved ones is shrinking. A growing number—25 percent—are between ages 18 and 34. If there’s one thing that’s bipartisan, it’s caring for the elderly. In January 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act, a law that directs Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to develop and maintain a strategy…

We thank our parents for raising and supporting their children, sometimes into their 20s, and they jokingly (we think) hold it over us. Less discussed is that, at some point, we will probably be asked to care for them, for a period that can extend into decades—a reality that comeswith emotional and financial challenges. 28 Average hours a week U.S. caregivers spend helping older adults with health care activities. $43,539 Median annual cost of a U.S. assisted-living facility in 2016; for nursing home care, it was $92,378. 69% Percentage of U.S. carers who rearrange their work schedule, decrease hours or take unpaid leave. 44% Percentage of U.S. carers who say their employer is unaware of their caregiving. $324,044 Estimated cost, as of 2011, of lost wages and Social Security benefits for an American woman who leaves her job early to…