Newsweek 12/18/2020

1969 At a time when the NBA was gaining popularity nationwide, Newsweek said that the New York Knicks “may be the greatest pro basketball team of all time,” regularly filling Madison Square Garden with “19,500 screaming, frenzied fans.” The emergence of the Knicks, “with their fluid, devastating offense and imaginative defense,” coincided with a rise in popularity for the National Basketball Association, which had 14 teams at the time. Today, the NBA has 30 teams, and in the 2018–2019 season, the Knicks were the team with the highest annual revenue at $472 million. 1973 When Bette Midler performed as the Divine Miss M, Newsweek wrote, “What galvanized the audience’s tumultuous cheers and laughter was Bette’s ability to reveal an unmistakable vulnerability.” Throughout her career, Midler has won four Golden Globes, three Grammys, three…

@kerenzulli “Do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good?” » P.22 TRADITIONALLY, THE END OF THE YEAR IS A time to take stock of your finances and make a few last-minute moves that can save you money and set you up well for the 12 months to come. That’s still true in 2020 but with a darker twist: The looming expiration of critical financial-relief programs under the CARES Act means that, for many Americans hit hard by the pandemic economy, their year-end money to-do list will include moves to ensure they’ll still be able to pay their basic bills and keep the roof over their heads as 2021 begins. In fact, over half of Americans say that their finances have been impacted by the pandemic and…

SCIENCE SAYS PORN IS A HUGE PROBLEM. LAWMAKERS MUST STOP IGNORING IT THE GROWTH OF ONLINE PORNOGRAPHY over the last few decades has been staggering. By some estimates the porn industry is worth nearly $100 billion. What have the effects been? A shocking rise in the number of porn addicts, for one. Surveys of teenagers and college students show 60 percent or more admitting to using pornography at least weekly. With recent brain scan surveys, it has become difficult to classify this type of behavior as anything other than addiction. Pornography has also become increasingly violent. Studies find that up to 88 percent of the most popular pornographic videos contain physical violence, and 49 percent contain verbal aggression. A 2016 academic review of 20 years of research found that the studies they reviewed “tended…

SOME CONSERVATIVES ARE STILL hellbent on banning online porn. Matt Walsh, a Daily Wire columnist and a culture warrior if there ever were one, wants the state to “have a role” in regulating adult content. Sohrab Ahmari, op-ed editor of the New York Post, insists that adult content “isn’t free speech—on the web or anywhere.” Newsweek’s own opinion editor, Josh Hammer, has lamented at First Things that “today’s self-proclaimed liberty-minded ‘conservative’ vanguard defends licentiousness by invoking the mantle of freedom.” And Terry Schilling, executive director of American Principles Project, has spent a good portion of his career discussing his concerns about adult entertainment and, more specifically, access to it. I am a constitutional conservative. I am a Christian. I am an occasional columnist at The Federalist, whose pieces have been edited and/or rejected…

@GSDeutch OF THE 135 SITES THAT NewsGuard has identified as publishing materially false information about the 2020 U.S. election, 85 of them—63 percent—have also published misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. This is concerning, but not surprising; most of these sites already had a history of publishing conspiracy theories and hoaxes prior to both the coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. election. Some of the sites on the list are familiar standbys, known for publishing conspiracies on any and all topics (think anti-vax falsehoods, or 9/11 conspiracies). As major current events that captivated global attention, the coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. election provided simply another opportunity for these sites to spread outlandish false claims. The website of David Icke, the British former footballer now known for claiming that the world is under the control of…

“It’s going to be a very dark couple of weeks.”—JOSH MICHAUD, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY AT THE KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION, ON THE RISING COVID DEATHS“I THINK WE HAVE A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING THE COUNTRY BACK TOGETHER.”—DEMOCRATIVE CONGRESSMAN JOE MANCHIN OF WEST VIRGINIA“Do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?”—BARACK OBAMA CRITIQUING THE SLOGAN “DEFUND THE POLICE”“The moment you become a father, everything really does change because then you start to realize, well, what is the point in bringing a new person into this world when they get to your age and it's on fire?”—PRINCE HARRY“IT FELT GREAT TO BE A PART OF THOSE CELEBRATORY MOMENTS—AND IT TOTALLY TOOK ME BY SURPRISE”—Mariah Carey on…