Newsweek March 31 - April 07, 2023

2011 “For regions vulnerable to quakes and tsunamis—especially if, like Japan, they hit the trifecta of having nuclear plants in the crosshairs of those natural disasters, there have been no scarier words than these: Japan is the most earthquake- and tsunami-prepared country on the planet,” said Newsweek. “States are falling woefully short on preparations.” Recently, some Southern California cities are slowly retrofitting thousands of buildings that have similar flaws to structures that collapsed in the February 7.8 magnitude Turkey-Syria earthquake that killed over 50,000 people. 1980 “An end to an era of easy credit seemed at hand as lending windows everywhere slammed shut, crimping spending plans up and down the nation’s economy,” Newsweek wrote. The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is now testing the Federal Reserve’s attempts to curb inflation through interest…

FACT OR OPINION? ▸ In its post-election coverage, did Fox News defame Dominion Voting Systems? Was their reporting reckless disregard for the truth...or were the TV hosts just offering their opinion? Rakim Brooks of the Alliance for Justice Action Campaign and Ari Hoffman face off. “Fox did real harm to a real company that was providing a public good and they shouldn’t get away with it,” says Brooks. Hoffman disagrees. HOST ▸ Andrew Tallman IN THEIR WORDS ▸ “Unfortunately, primetime on every single network is opinion for the most part on every single network.” —Radio host Ari Hoffman DON’T MISS THE PARTING SHOT Your weekly dose of everything pop culture Paris Goes to Congress ▸ What abuses is Paris Hilton—not the dumb blonde everyone thinks they know—speaking out against? In calling for reform to the “troubled youth…

On March 15, pedestrians walk past piles of garbage bags that have been accumulating since waste collectors went on strike nine days earlier against the French government’s proposed pensions reform. President Emmanuel Macron’s budget reforms also plan to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 and have encountered fierce opposition. Despite public outrage shown by waves of large protests and nationwide strikes, on March 16, Macron used a special constitutional power to push the legislation through without a vote in the National Assembly. ▸ CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT…

BLACK SEA ‘‘Brazen Violation’’ A screen grab captured from footage released by the Pentagon shows a Russian Su-27 fighter jet dumping fuel on a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea before it was downed on March 14. The incident is the first known direct physical confrontation between the countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago. Russia is attempting to recover the wreckage. ▸ U.S. EUROPEAN COMMAND NEW YORK CITY Alarm Bells Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on March 15. Stock futures fell as shares of Credit Suisse plunged 30 percent. The uncertainty at the large global bank unsettled the international financial system after the collapse of two U.S. banks the week before. On March 16, the Swiss central bank approved a $54…

IN EARLY 2020, AS THE PANDEMIC WAS LOOMING, Dr. Anthony Fauci corresponded with a group of scientists about the possibility that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. After a conference call, the scientists published a paper downplaying the lab-leak theory. Jim Jordan, a Republican representative from Ohio who began questioning witnesses on Wednesday in the House hearings on the origin of the pandemic, has his own way of weaving those facts into a narrative. It’s a story of gross malfeasance, with Fauci as villain. The best thing about the debate over the origin of COVID-19—or the worst thing, depending on your point of view—is that it provides great fodder for constructing narratives. Consider one alternative view of Fauci’s actions. Amid the worst public health crisis in a century,…

“HUMOR WAS AN OUTLET FOR ME, AN ESCAPE.”— MAD magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee“This is an extinction-level event for startups.”— VENTURE CAPITALIST GARRY TAN ON THE COLLAPSE OF SILICON VALLEY BANK“I want to see more Kamala Harrises out there.”—DOUGLAS EMHOFF, SECOND GENTLEMAN OF THE UNITED STATES“There was never an ounce of me that wasn’t going to find a way through.”—KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, ON CAREER BURNOUT“IT IS PART OF THE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND IS NOT ABORTIVE.”—Honduras' President Xiomara Castro, ending a ban on emergency contraceptive pills“The College Board fiasco, I think, is just the tip of the iceberg.”—Columbia and UCLA Law Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw“WOULD YOU RATHER YOUR HOME BE INUNDATED WITH FLOODING OR HAVE 20 DAYS OVER 90 DEGREES IN THE SUMMER?”—Environmentalist Eunice Ko on the importance of Local Law 97…