May 22, 2017 Vol 189 No 19

The Wave to Come

The Comey Misfire
Did Donald Trump ax James Comey because he mishandled the Clinton email investigation?
Or did he have the FBI’s probe of his campaign’s possible links to Moscow in mind?

The Danger of Governing on Social Media
Faith in the government is falling, alongside faith in the press

France’s Youngest Leader Since Napoleon Takes the Stage

8 Questions With Gina Miller
She recently launched a strategic voting campaign

How Senator Ben Sasse Became the Anti-Trump

Do Stressed-Out Japanese Really Stage Elaborate Disappearances?
On the Trail of the Johatsu or ‘Evaporated People’
While the johatsu are by definition hard to find, there can be no doubting the unique pressures and alienation felt by Japanese in a society that many would like to disappear from if they could

On Amazon, a Troubled Letter-Writing Campaign from the Heart

New Orleans Confronts Its Confederate History
Early on April 24, police officers cordoned off New Orleans’ Liberty Monument, a granite obelisk commemorating an 1874 uprising of white citizens against the state’s Reconstructionist government. With snipers posted nearby, crews of workers--their faces hidden under cloth and the logos on their trucks covered with cardboard--soon dismantled it and trucked it away.

The Shoddy Science Behind Fidget Spinners

How Smart Is a Dog Really? The Secrets of a Canine Mind
New research is revealing how complex a thing it is

Review: The Lovers Proves that Love After 50 Isn’t Science-Fiction

A Quick Talk With Jeff Garlin About Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie

How Twin Peaks Changed TV Forever

Harry Styles’ Solo Album Is an Unexpected Tour of Rock History

How ‘Golden Visas’ Work

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Perfume Genius

NASA’s New ‘Space Fabric’

The Forgotten Parent Behind Mother’s Day

Homo Naledi Likely Coexisted With Humans

What It Feels Like When All Your Parental Nightmares Are Rolled Into One TV Series

America’s Happiest Incomes
Gallup analyzed over 350,000 interviews with Americans in 2015 and ’16 to determine how income affects people’s daily emotions. These household annual salaries correlated with peak happiness in major metropolitan areas.

Where Artists Fall Afoul of Blasphemy Laws
British actor Stephen Fry was investigated for blasphemy in Ireland after referring to God as ”capricious, mean-minded [and] stupid” on television in 2015. The probe was dropped on May 8, but Ireland isn’t the only country where artists have run afoul of laws barring sacrilege.

How Beauty Drives Evolution

This Just In

For the Record

Milestones