Newsweek 10/30/2020

1992 Madonna’s career—marked from its inception by scandalous artistic choices and a lust for the limelight—continued with the joint release of the album Erotica and a coffee table book entitled Sex. Newsweek reported that “Dismissive reviews, splashed across the tabloids like news of Pearl Harbor, couldn’t stop the ambush.” Topping The New York Times best seller list, Sex sold 150,000 copies on the day of its release. Now, 28 years later, the star announced another surprise endeavor: She’s directing a film about her own life and career and co-writing the script with Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody. 1970 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, leader of “one of the world’s most placid democracies,” made a “crucial experiment: meeting terror with toughness,” Newsweek reported, by invoking the War Measures Act in response to a kidnapping by the…

“WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT RACE,” PHIL VISCHER says in a video posted June 14 on YouTube. The evangelical creator of VeggieTales, a children’s show that tells Bible stories using animated vegetables with names like Junior Asparagus and Pa Grape, tells viewers that Black households have one-tenth the wealth as white ones and delves into the history of Jim Crow laws, the “war on drugs” and “militarized police.” He talks about news media that scares Americans with images of Black criminals and teachers who favor white kids due to their “unconscious bias.” Call Vischer the tip of the spear of what critics call a “woke” Christian movement whose members have not only embraced the language of the left but also its chief goal of defeating Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential…

THE BEST (CYBER) DEFENSE IS A GOOD (CYBER) OFFENSE by Jamil N. Jaffer WE ARE AT WAR IN CYBERSPACE. While lawyers might quibble about the definitions of armed attacks, the fact of the matter is that, for around a decade, we’ve been in a series of consistent—albeit small-scale—conflicts in cyberspace. They have intensified recently, particularly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have had a massive impact on the American public and private sectors. Standing alone, cyber-enabled economic warfare conducted by China drains the American private sector of billions of dollars a year, with total damages estimated in the trillions. Former NSA Director Gen. Keith B. Alexander described this concerted effort as “the greatest transfer of wealth in human history.” Even worse, in the last six years alone, we’ve seen our adversaries…

With two weeks to go before the election, the nation’s financial health is top of mind for Americans. According to a recent Gallup poll, nearly nine out of 10 registered voters say the economy is the most important factor in their decision about who to vote for—ahead of response to the pandemic, crime, race relations and a dozen other key issues. Additionally, nearly half of those polled said that President Donald Trump’s recent COVID-19 diagnosis had made them even more worried about the economy than they already were. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN now and Inauguration Day, January 20—even in the unlikely event of a coronavirus vaccine or a second round of stimulus checks—the next president will be looking at an economy that is in rough shape and faces a long…

BIG, BUSY HOSPITALS CAN BE lifesavers—when you need them. But when outpatient care is possible, patients often prefer ambulatory care centers: they allow you to have procedures done after business hours and closer to home. Ambulatory surgical centers performed more than half of all outpatient surgeries in 2017, according to Bain research, and that percentage is already expanding. Orthopedic, cardio and spinal surgeries are expected to drive the growth. To help our readers make knowledgeable choices when they seek care for themselves or loved ones, Newsweek partnered with respected global research firm Statista to name America’s Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers 2021. This list spotlights the 400 best centers in the 25 states that have the most facilities. (They are: California, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey,…

Carved stone animals adorn the sides of many Gothic buildings, particularly in Europe. Perched on high, some of these mystical beings provide merely visual appeal; others—technically known as gargoyles—are an essential part of a building’s water drainage system. Just like Halloween costumes on trick-or-treaters, grotesques don’t have to be eerie or ghastly; they can be quirky and even goofy. From Darth Vader on the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to stone dragons in China’s Forbidden City, behold some of the most unexpected and unique grotesques and gargoyles from around the world. HOW TO PLAY THE GAME Michael Strahan on his crossover career » P.48…