Let's take a Halloween-inspired look at the election and the rest of the days news. We're already pretty scared anyway...
There’s just one week to go until the election. We know that by looking at the calendar. But we can also feel it, as nearly every other topic has been pushed out of the national headlines, and out of our personal headspace. The twists and turns of the presidential race occupy so much of our psyche that they ooze into every part of our lives. When my son said he wanted a Halloween costume that everyone would recognize, I suggested he dress as one of Hillary Clinton’s emails. There’s no doubt that our obsession with this ultimate reality show is a hazard to our mental health. But is it also a hazard to our relationships? The New Yorker’s Joshua Rothman looks at a new book that examines the impact of elections when it comes to our neighbors. “Politics can become a poisonous influence in our lives. Like a tacky filter on Instagram, it can color our perceptions too radically; it can play too large a role in the construction of our identities and social lives. It fills us with unwanted passionate intensity. Perhaps, somewhere in the territory of the self, a border marks the place where our lives as citizens end and our sovereignty as individuals begins. If such a border exists, though, it doesn’t feel very secure.” You have a Clinton sign on your lawn. He has a Trump sign on his. Can you get along? (Or to put it another way: Aren’t there enough reasons to be irritated by your neighbors without adding politics to the mix?)
+ We’re even divided when it comes to Halloween candy. It seems fitting that “the candy of choice in the most number of states this year turned out to be the polarizing Halloween staple — Candy corn.” (2016 feels more like an Everlasting Gobstopper.)
Polluted Airheads
“Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year — and it threatens the lives and futures of millions more every day.” According to Unicef, 300 million children around the world are breathing extremely toxic air.
+ “Diwali, the most important Hindu festival in north India, celebrates the victory of good over evil.” But, thanks to an enormous number of fireworks, good was not able to win without leaving behind a massive trail of pollution.
Election Week Whoppers
The FBI has obtained a warrant to search newly discovered emails on Anthony Weiner’s computer (these could be relevant to the earlier investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails).
+ Here’s a guide for those perplexed by the email investigation. (And if you’re not perplexed, you’re not doing it right.)
+ Regardless of which side you’re on, it’s clear that this discussion of potential evidence a few days before an election is unusual. And that makes it par for the course in 2016. The Atlantic’s James Fallows on the destruction of norms.
+ Here’s my take on the email saga: There’s supposed to be a layer between all the noise and the voting public: The media. Even with all the attacks on their credibility, you still count on them to ingest the firehose of endless data, analyze it, and spit out a version of day’s events that makes some sense and has some reality-based context. But they failed you. Miserably. The First Rough Draft of History is Just Way Too Rough.
The Bronx Hits a Sour Patch
“The Bronx is home to 1.5 million people, two hundred thousand public-school students, eleven colleges and universities, and a single general-interest bookstore.” Well, at least for now. By the end of the year, the borough will be back down to zero.
Sugar Daddy
“PepsiCo brought a vending machine stocked with Quaker bars, Naked juices and reduced-fat Doritos. Unilever showcased Hellmann’s spreads and offered samples of Breyer’s ice cream. Nestle displayed bottled water, Nesquik chocolate drinks and Butterfingers candies. A Sugar Association pamphlet suggested sprinkling sugar on vegetables for picky children.” And this was at a conference for nutritionists. (I know it worked out when you got your chocolate in my peanut butter, but this is ridiculous.) From AP: Do candy and soda makers belong at a dietitians’ conference?
+ Stat: Nutritionists built close ties with the food industry. Now they’re seeking some distance.
Unfudged Numbers
“The total value of American imports and exports fell by more than $200 billion last year. Through the first nine months of 2016, trade fell by an additional $470 billion. It is the first time since World War II that trade with other nations has declined during a period of economic growth.” During this election season, we’ve heard a lot of loud (and often sophomoric) arguments about global trade. In the NYT Upshot, Binyamin Appelbaum provides a little-noticed fact about trade: It’s No Longer Rising. (It’s hard to sugarcoat these numbers.)
A Spoonful of Sugar
“The rise of immunotherapy hasn’t shifted … reality overnight, but it has sent a new jolt of energy into an age-old dream: that maybe, just maybe, medical science can turn terminal cancers into survivable conditions.” Texas Monthly on “a young scientist who believed the immune system could treat tumors when few others did. And that irreverence led him to find a potential cure for cancer.”
Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut
Stevie Wonder isn’t blind. The Beatles never existed. Katy Perry is actually a grown-up JonBenét Ramsey. Those are just three items from Vulture’s list of the 70 greatest conspiracy theories of all time.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
The Atlantic on why adult stars hate California’s ballot initiative that would require performers to wear condoms. It basically turns viewers into watchdogs that can earn a cut of penalties charged to production companies. (I suppose that means it also gives people another excuse to explain what was found in their browser history.)
Bottom of the Chews
“Avoiding those three letters brought me comfort and let me think I’d be eating some sort of sacredly pure meal made with food, not chemicals. Oh, how young and foolish I was.” From FiveThirtyEight: How MSG got a bad rap: flawed science and xenophobia. (Now I feel less weird that’s what we’re handing out on Halloween at my house.)
+ Some timely news: This is how much Halloween candy it would take to kill you. Hey, if you gotta go…
+ I know NFL ratings have been low. But this is ridiculous. How did a dildo get on the field at the Patriots-Bills game? Inflategate is the new deflategate.
