Nary an au pair in sight: When Vox published an article last month asking all the male 2020 Democratic candidates with young children who takes care of their kids while they campaign, Rebecca Onion noticed a striking omission: the nannies, babysitters, au pairs, and other paid child care these relatively well-off politicians are presumably relying on. So she decided to ask all the parents running in the primary about their experience with paid child care. Turns out, not a lot of them want to talk about it.
Stepping back: For a year now, the Trump administration has been exerting a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran, hoping to force the regime to acquiesce to Trump’s desires for the region. But over the weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suddenly decided to back off his harsh conditions for talks with the nation. As Fred Kaplan explains, this is a good move—squeezing Iran would be disastrous—but what will this mean for future negotiations in the region? Do we have a plan, or any foreign policy credibility left? (Probably not.)
The mind-body solution: Fall, the latest novel from Neal Stephenson, exists in a near future where self-driving cars are the norm and cryogenics is completely workable. It’s “a semi-lawless territory riddled with bullet holes and conspiracy theories.” Laura Miller’s review tackles some of the novel’s larger philosophical questions, like how the human mind shapes bodies—and whether we can be meaningfully separated from them while remaining ourselves.
Unwilling subjects: Is it cool for researchers to cull YouTube videos and Twitter posts as fodder for their studies? That data is all “publicly available,” but many users don’t really understand the implications of that, writes Jane C. Hu.
For fun: A close reading of the Black Hills Pioneer, Deadwood’s newspaper.
Stocking up on the choicest ales, wines, and liquors,
Abby
