Trump’s expected decision on the climate-change accord, Xi Jinping’s plan for Chinese world domination, blockchain’s roadblocks, and more
The Paris Accord: President Trump is expected to make a decision soon about whether the U. S. will stay in the global agreement on climate change, and early reports say he plans to pull out. Todd Stern, who led U. S. negotiations on the deal, argues that decision would be indefensible, causing serious diplomatic damage. Though climate change can be a polarizing issue, a majority of Americans across the political spectrum want to stay in the Paris agreement.
World Leaders: In the aftermath of Trump’s controversial foreign trip, National-Security Adviser H. R. McMaster and National Economic Council director Gary Cohn have outlined the president’s approach to foreign policy in an op-ed—which, by David Frum’s analysis, indicates an end to America’s tradition of leadership based on democratic ideals and international interests. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to guide his country to global supremacy, a plan that could foreshadow a major clash with the U. S.
Blockchain Blockages: The secure transaction-recording technology pioneered by Bitcoin has attracted numerous companies hoping to profit off digital currency— along with scammers hoping to profit off investors who don’ t understand how blockchain works. Such schemes are an obstacle to the success of a technology that some see as a promising solution to economic problems. Yet the risks of blockchain don’ t stop with scammers—it could also be co-opted as a tool for authoritarian control.
Micki McElya sets Alex Tizon’s recent cover story “ My Family’s Slave ” in the context of American stereotypes and popular narratives about slavery:
Tizon, for his part, seems reluctant to fully make the connection. And some readers from the Philippines have pointed out that their country has a distinctive history of slavery with marked differences from chattel slavery in the antebellum United States, while others note the more pertinent context of modern human trafficking. Still, Tizon’s own essay demands the comparison to American slavery and its legacies. His story joins a tradition that began with what’s known as “the faithful slave narrative, ” morphed into the dominant “mammy” ideal by the later 19th century, and has persisted, to the present day, through mainstream popular culture and in stories of black caregivers whose deep love for the white children they cared for transcended the cruelty and coercions of their circumstances.
Keep reading here, and read about how Tizon’s essay fits into Philippine history here .
1. More than ____________ robots work in Amazon’s warehouses.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here .
2. In 2016, white Americans without college degrees cast about ____________ percent of votes in the presidential election, compared with 61 percent in 1992.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here .
3. It took ____________ 78-rpm records (the type produced in the 1920s) to play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here .
Answers: 40,000,42,11
On this day in 2005, the identity of Deep Throat, the famous anonymous source of the Watergate scandal, was revealed. William Powers reflected:
The resolution of the Deep Throat mystery didn’ t clear up much of anything for the media, or even lift the spirits of this depressed profession. … Mark Felt wasn’ t the glamorous, high-principled hero some expected Deep Throat to be. Nor was he the fictional composite—or X-Files-ish villain—others were hoping for. He was complicated, and so were his motives, both in helping The Washington Post on the Watergate story 30-some years ago, and in coming out himself now. Knowing the answer to one of journalism’s oldest riddles didn’t help us solve the newest one: Are the media good or bad?
Read more here, and watch a short interview with Watergate journalist Bob Woodward here.
The TAD group is discussing Sophie Gilbert’s review of Grayson Perry’s new book The Descent of Man, which argues that “modern men… are floundering thanks to a model of manhood that’s thousands of years out of date.” A female commenter reflects on the gender models she learned growing up:
It’s interesting and entirely anecdotal—but I grew up thinking all men were unkind, gruff, and short-tempered because of my male family members. I thought it was literally wired into men’s brains. It’s been so refreshing as I’ ve gotten older to have that impression challenged by men who push back against it with gentleness and a laid-back attitude.
I remember the first time I saw my boyfriend cry and I was stunned. I think of myself as being pretty good with trying to usher equality both ways, but there are still things that I have to unlearn as they come along because of how I was raised.
More reader discussion here. If you have a story to share about your own role models for manhood, please tell us about it via hello@theatlantic.com .
Ocean animated, spider silk strengthened, basketball dramatized, “covfefe” enjoyed .
Happy birthday to Benita’s son Miles (twice the age of iPhones) , Clare’s husband (a year younger than James Bond) , and Ellen’s husband Adam (a year younger than Silent Spring) , who’s been making her laugh since 1996. Happy birthday from Elyn to Chanes (twice the age of Toy Story) , from Nicole to Kip (twice the age of Google) , and from Darin to his wife Gail (a year younger than fiber optics) and daughter Piedra, who’s 10 today. Happy 2nd birthday to Elidh from Mummy and Daddy—the Life Timeline doesn’ t work for those under 13, but family stories do. Happy birthday to Susan (twice the age of MTV) , who shares this memory:
Born into the post-war world of 1946, I’ m in the first group of Baby Boomers. So many changes in 71 years! In Rome in 1998, I noted how people at a restaurant on the Piazza Navona seemed so preoccupied with their cellphones that they barely spoke to their table mates. I hoped that wouldn’ t happen in America!
And an ecstatic birthday to Ellen (the same age as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) , who writes: “38 is not a very exciting birthday. But it would be more exciting if I got a shout-out in The Atlantic Daily!” Sign up for your own birthday shout-out here, and click here to explore the Timeline feature for yourself.
