archive

Matter of time

Philipp Lersch (Berlin): Fewer Siblings, More Wealth? Sibship Size and Wealth Attainment. From Vox, slats, fences, and wall, explained: Dara Lind on what exactly the shutdown fight is about; and this could be a really long government shutdown: The game of chicken between Trump and Democrats, explained. The second half of Watergate was bigger, worse, and forgotten by the public: Watergate revealed that multinational corporations, including some of the most prestigious American brands, had been making bribes to politicians not only at home but in foreign countries. Ben Carson’s HUD dials back investigations into housing discrimination. It’s only a matter of time before a drone takes down a passenger plane.

Arno Tausch (Innsbruck): The Return of Religious Antisemitism? The Evidence from World Values Survey Data. “But Mr. Trump had not read the letter”: Television is running the country. The path to the presidency could be harder for white Democrats in 2020 (and more). One giant step for a chess-playing machine: The stunning success of AlphaZero, a deep-learning algorithm, heralds a new age of insight — one that, for humans, may not last long. Ian Johnson on the Uighurs and China’s long history of trouble with Islam. More people are calling on others to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions — why’d it take us this long? How two-tier unions turn workers against one another: When employers can’t stop workers from organizing, they still have other tools at their disposal.