Newsweek July 29, 2022

2015 “High-capacity magazines have been the accessory of choice for most mass killers in the U.S.,” Newsweek wrote, arguing for tighter regulation. “In this great compromise, that is all the gun controllers get: a ban on high-capacity magazines and other slaughter accessories, universal background checks and a ban on the public display of weapons.” In June, President Biden signed the most significant gun safety law in decades, expanding background checks on minors and red flag laws; weeks later, however, the Supreme Court loosened restrictions on carrying arms in public. 1970 “Snoops, bugs, wiretaps, dossiers, data banks—and specters of 1984,” was how Newsweek referred to new privacy concerns. Over 50 years later, privacy is even more of a contentious issue, with Big Data tracking Americans’ online footprints and using information to not only predict…

FEATURED EPISODE The Leisure Class Dire Straits’ Jack Sonni gathers an eclectic group of creatives BE YOUR OWN MIXOLOGIST ▸ Do you revert to tried-and-true cocktails because you’re not sure what you’d like? Boring vodka sodas? Unsure how to spice things up? Break out of your cocktail rut and try a new breed of premade mixes. Sonni and cocktail wizard Brad Johnson, along with the founders of subscription box company Shaker & Spoon, talk everything cocktails and how you can elevate your home soirée. HOST ▸ Jack Sonni, writer and musician IN THEIR WORDS ▸ “How do you take the tattooed, mustachioed Brooklyn cocktail dude experience and get that happening in your home?” DON’T MISS THE PARTING SHOT Your weekly dose of everything pop culture ‘Brace for Impact’ ▸ What is it like waking up as Tom Hanks? Which…

AS ALLEGATIONS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE AGAINST the already scandal-ridden GOP front runner Eric Greitens roil the Republican field, things are looking up for Democrats in Missouri’s wild race for the U.S. Senate. That includes Lucas Kunce, a 39-year-old square-jawed war veteran with progressive views and a folksy manner, who wasted no time on a recent campaign tour insisting to skeptical crowds that, yes, against all odds in this deeply red state, he really can win—first, the Democratic nomination in Missouri’s primary on August 2 and then in the general election on November 8. “We started 20 points behind Eric Greitens, and in a Republican poll a couple months ago, we were just 1.9 points behind him,” Kunce bellowed at a midday rally last month in scorching 100-degree heat during a swing…

WHILE THE JAMES WEBB SPACE Telescope woos the world with its clear images of unfathomably distant galaxies and nebulae, it has also showcased its ability to detect atmospheric gases on other planets and play a key part in the search for life elsewhere in the universe. On July 12, NASA released a suite of images taken by Webb, representing its first publicly available proper cosmic snapshots since it was launched back in December. The photos included an image of the distant galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever taken, as well as shots of the Southern Ring Nebula, the Carina Nebula, and the Stephan’s Quintet galaxy group. But the dataset also included information about WASP-96 b, a planet that orbits a sun-like…

There are few true American dynasties. The Rockefellers, Mellons, Astors and DuPonts come to mind. The Gettys, too, are on that list. Founded by oil baron J. Paul Getty who moved under the radar until his “outing” as the richest American by FORTUNE magazine in 1957, the subsequent four generations of his family have been in the spotlight, navigating fields from environmentalism to fashion to business, music, digital archives, arts, LGBTQ rights and politics. With five wives, the patriarch of the dynasty, J. Paul Getty, fathered four sons who lived to adulthood, and the family tree has flowered to some 19 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and 15 great-great-grandchildren. Family scandals and internal squabbles such as Getty’s son Gordon’s (unsuccessful) seven-year court challenge over the family trust in the 1960s and the kidnapping…

Q _ Why did you choose to write this book? Why this family? A _ Over the years, I had interviewed a few Gettys. I found them fascinating—and all quite different. I began to learn how sprawling the family is, with four distinct branches. They have all gone in wildly different directions, not just geographically. Writing his book was an opportunity to connect the dots and learn how a contemporary dynasty survives and even thrives. What was the most surprising thing you learned about the family? They have often been depicted as totally dysfunctional and tragic; in fact, they have proven to be surprisingly durable. There was also a lot of misinformation out there on the family, particularly on J. Paul Getty. He’s been painted as being so coldhearted and mean. In fact,…