country: United States

Stay updated with comprehensive news on the United States from Worldcrunch. Discover insights on American politics, economic strategies, societal issues, and cultural landmarks with translations from top international sources. Highlights include Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, and cultural events.

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In The News

When Your Brand Is Smothered In Neo-Nazi Love

Protesters carrying Tiki torches in Charlottesville
Protesters carrying Tiki torches in Charlottesville John Haydon

WASHINGTON — The neo-Nazis were hungry. They had spent the day in a Charlottesville, Va., courthouse testifying at the preliminary hearing for a white nationalist jailed for pepper-spraying counterprotesters during August’s deadly Unite the Right rally. Now, after the long drive home to Alexandria, Va., they craved pizza. “We were going to order from the local place where we get pizza all the time, but we said no, Papa John’s is the official pizza of the alt-right now,” said Eli Mosley, the 26-year-old leader of the white separatist group Identity Evropa. “We’re just supporting the brands that support us.” That […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Ideas

When Trump Went To China, ‘America First’ Blindness v. Visionary Xi

Xi and Trump meet school children last week in Beijing
Xi and Trump meet school children last week in Beijing Shealah Craighead/White House via ZUMA

Xi Jinping knows exactly where he wants to go. Donald Trump, not so much…

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In The News

Washington: On Missing Squares And The Meaning Of A Park

Meridian Hill Park from above
Meridian Hill Park from above Rudi Riet

WASHINGTON — This is an elegant city. It is smooth and soft-spoken. It’s clean and well kept, possibly because most of the residential buildings in the city are family townhouses. Low, two, three-story buildings spread the city out, creating the impression Washington is bigger than it is. Sparse-density urbanity evokes the pastoral, idyllic way of […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics Ideas

On Sin And Individualism, Why Most Evangelicals Oppose Gun Control

A prayer circle for the victims in Sutherland Springs, Texas
A prayer circle for the victims in Sutherland Springs, Texas San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA

The shooting at a Southern Baptist church in Texas is believed to be the worst such shooting at a church in modern U.S. history. Several prominent Southern Baptist pastors have President Donald Trump’s ear as members of his unofficial evangelical advisory council. Even so, it would be very surprising if Southern Baptists pushed for changes in gun policy, because it hasn’t been a priority for the denomination in decades. The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in the country with about 15 million members, has taken up issues like abortion and same-sex marriage at its annual conventions, but it […]

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In The News

Facebook And Russian Meddling, Don’t Blame The Messenger

Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch (left) and his Google and Twitter counterparts testify in D.C.
Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch (left) and his Google and Twitter counterparts testify in D.C. Yin Bogu/Xinhua via ZUMA

Think of Facebook as akin to a delivery truck, noting that such trucks often carry guns, junk food and bad books.

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In The News

Mueller Probe, A True Test For American Democracy

File photo of Mueller on June 21, 2017
File photo of Mueller on June 21, 2017 Ting Shen/Xinhua via ZUMA

Washington and the Trump administration are reeling after the first charges are filed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

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In The News

Quantum Computers, Is Google Set To Cross A New Threshold?

A quantum mechanical resonator
A quantum mechanical resonator Erik Lucero

Any day now, Google is expected to achieve quantum supremacy—the use of a quantum computer to solve a problem that even the most advanced supercomputer can’t unravel. That milestone, which Google has said it will reach by year-end, will no doubt be greeted with headlines proclaiming the dawn of the quantum computing age. Prepare for lots of stories about how quantum computing will soon do everything from inventing wonderful new pharmaceuticals and almost-magical new materials (good) to rendering obsolete all existing public-key encryption (not so good). There’s plenty of momentum. Earlier this month, Intel Corp. researchers unveiled a superconducting chip […]

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In The News

How Has Trump Avoided Weinstein’s Fate?

Bidding Mueller adieu
Bidding Mueller adieu Lannis Waters/ZUMA

WASHINGTON — Almost a year after New Yorker Jessica Leeds and other women stepped forward with harrowing accounts of being sexually assaulted by a powerful man, another scandal with similar elements exploded. Only this time, the punishment was swift and devastating. “It is hard to reconcile that Harvey Weinstein could be brought down with this, and President Donald Trump just continues to be the Teflon Don,” said Leeds, who claims she was groped 30 years ago on a plane by the man whose presence she cannot escape now that he sits in the Oval Office. In Florida, Melinda McGillivray, was […]

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Ideas Terror in Europe

Mental Health And Jihad, Are Islamic Terrorists Insane?

Last month's trial of Mahmoud O. in Germany
Last month's trial of Mahmoud O. in Germany Julian Stratenschulte/DPA via ZUMA

Voltaire reminds us that today’s Islamic fanaticism is a kind of pathology of religious faith.

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In The News

Confidentiality Clauses, What Protects That Predator Boss

Nondisclosure statements have created a system which silences survivors of sexual assault
Nondisclosure statements have created a system which silences survivors of sexual assault Hamza Butt

Nondisclosure agreements and other contracts perpetuate a culture of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.

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In The News

The Donald, The Codes And Risks Of A New Nuclear Arms Race

Ballistic missile test launch in California on April 26
Ballistic missile test launch in California on April 26 Ian Dudley/U.S. Air Force

U.S. President Donald Trump is raising the threat of an arms build-up, and even nuclear confrontation itself. But he’s not the only one.

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In The News

Extra! ‘Relentless’ Fires Wreak Havoc In Northern California

Fires rage in Santa Rosa, California on Tuesday
Fires rage in Santa Rosa, California on Tuesday Paul Kuroda/Zuma

Hellish firestorms in northern California have killed at least 17 people and razed entire neighborhoods, destroying more than 2,000 structures. Dozens of other people have been reported missing, raising fears that the death toll could rise sharply. The “disaster is relentless,” Wednesday’s front page of the San Francisco Chronicle reads above a photograph of the […]

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

If Washington Kills Iran Nuke Deal, Europe Will Be Furious

Macron, Merkel and Trump at the 2017 G20 summit
Macron, Merkel and Trump at the 2017 G20 summit John Macdougall/DPA/ZUMA

—Analysis— WASHINGTON — More than any other issue that has threatened transatlantic cohesion this year, President Donald Trump’s decision to decertify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal could start a chain of events that would sharply divide the United States from its closest traditional allies in the world. “After the Paris climate decision,” in which Trump withdrew the United States from a widely supported, painfully negotiated accord, “this could push multilateralism to the breaking point,” said a senior official from one of the three European signatories to the Iran deal. None of the three – Britain, France and Germany – […]

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In The News

An IKEA Acquisition Shows Limits Of The Sharing Economy

Do-it-herself
Do-it-herself helloturkeytoe

SAN FRANCISCO — I can’t help but feel disappointed that TaskRabbit, the San Francisco-based startup and “sharing economy” pioneer, has agreed to become a unit of Ikea. Although the company has tried to cast the deal as an expansion opportunity, this outcome is a far cry from the lofty expectations of its early days. TaskRabbit’s fate illustrates Silicon Valley’s unbounded idealism when it comes to optimizing everything. The company was a catalyst for “collaborative consumption,” a movement in which everyone would share their homes, their vehicles and their time. In a seminal TED talk, Rachel Botsman declared that the currency […]

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In The News

Las Vegas: Mass Shootings And The ‘Terrorism’ Label

Police investigators in Las Vegas
Police investigators in Las Vegas Ronda Churchill via ZUMA

The carnage in Las Vegas is evil and tragic, but is it terrorism?

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In The News

Los Angeles Celebrates Latin American And Latinx Art

Crossroad in front of LA's Broad museum
Crossroad in front of LA's Broad museum Suellen Asato via Instagram

The Getty Center launches a festival of Latin American art that also considers its influence on American culture and identity. In the age of Donald J. Trump, this has become doubly significant.

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics

Facebook And Transparency, Zuckerberg Must Go Farther

Thumbs down
Thumbs down Michael Youens via Instagram

Facebook has agreed to give the government information on political ad campaigns. But the social media giant must behave more like other media companies in a functioning democracy.

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In The News

On North Korea, Trump Has Now Gone Full ‘Madman’

Trump leaving the podium after his speech on Sept. 19
Trump leaving the podium after his speech on Sept. 19 Li Muzi/Xinhua/ZUMA

The U.S. president’s threat to ‘totally destroy’ a nation is beyond the pale. But is there method to it?

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In The News

The Many Dangers Of A Worldwide Nuclear Weapons Ban

A protest Wednesday in favor of a nuclear ban in Berlin.
A protest Wednesday in favor of a nuclear ban in Berlin. Britta Pedersen/DPA via ZUMA

WASHINGTON — This month, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will open for signature at the United Nations. Signatories will promise never to “develop, test, produce, manufacture . . . possess or stockpile nuclear weapons’; never to transfer weapons to other parties nor to receive them; and never to “use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.” The treaty’s aims, if they could be universally effected, are noble. After all, the prospect of nations — including, now, an international pariah like North Korea — facing off with their respective nuclear arsenals is horrific. Their renewed use in war would […]

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In The News

Saviors Or Profiteers? The Business Of Hurricane Recovery

Assessing post-Harvey damage in Rockport, Texas.
Assessing post-Harvey damage in Rockport, Texas. Rachel Denny Clow/TNS via ZUMA

Cleaning up after natural disasters has become a lucrative business, but raises questions for victims and governments alike.

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In The News

North Korea Brinksmanship And My Pyongyang Memories

Watching the latest missile news in Pyongyang in June
Watching the latest missile news in Pyongyang in June Zhu Longchuan/Xinhua via ZUMA

In May 1999, I visited North Korea. I was based at the time in Beijing as a correspondent for a Slovenian newspaper, and it was impossible not to visit the country that had aroused so many questions and offered so few answers. One just needed to see the place. So I did. I joined a […]

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Ideas Migrant Lives Trump And The World

How Immigration Could Make Or Break The Trump Presidency

DACA supporters marching in Santa Ana, CA, on Sept. 5
DACA supporters marching in Santa Ana, CA, on Sept. 5 Kyusung Gong/Orange County Register/ZUMA

WASHINGTON — President Trump is hurtling toward a crossroads on immigration — his signature campaign issue and a key source of his law-and-order reputation — where each path before him comes with significant political risks. Trump has temporarily placed the fates of roughly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children in the hands of Congress, buying himself time and shunting responsibility. Should Congress act, the president will have to choose whether to sign on to a legislative solution granting the “dreamers’ legal status — or to let the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, […]

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In The News

How A German Architect Became The ‘Kebab King’ Of NYC

Kotti's kebab in NYC
Kotti's kebab in NYC Official Instagram account

Erkan Emre’s occasional cravings for Berlin-style döner kebabs led to an unexpected career shift, and proved to be a recipe for success.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Historical Statues And The West’s Ideology Of Self-Hatred

Empty pedestal after a confederate statue was removed in Baltimore on Aug. 17
Empty pedestal after a confederate statue was removed in Baltimore on Aug. 17 Shen Ting/Xinhua/ZUMA

MONTREAL — In the aftermath of Charlottesville, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he was considering taking down a statue of Christopher Columbus because it could be offensive to Native Americans. If you were to believe it, this statue risked arousing hate, like so many symbols associated with European expansion and American […]

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In The News

A Cold Reality Check On Harvey — And The Next Time

Searching for survivors in Houston
Searching for survivors in Houston Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA

From zoning laws and insurance polices to the realities of climate change, there are ways to prevent such widespread suffering. But it requires political will.

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics Trump And The World

Mike Pence Is Dull And Conservative And He’s Still Our Best Hope

President Trump and Mike Pence in Washington, D.C., on June 26
President Trump and Mike Pence in Washington, D.C., on June 26 Win Mcnamee/CNP/ZUMA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump’s presidency has produced a proliferation of Eeyores. It’s not their (our) fault. However dismal one’s view of current American politics, Trump is sure to expose it, with a tweet or the lack of one, as a naive and rosy fantasy. Each day, we adjust our sights down. Each day, the president forces our gaze lower. Some conservatives might take comfort in the prospect — wish, really — of a President Mike Pence assuming office before the current occupant’s term is up. The Indiana Republican is as dull and serviceable a politician as Trump is bizarre […]

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In The News

After Charlottesville, Confederate Statues Ousted Under Cover Of Darkness

Removing statue in Baltimore on Aug. 16
Removing statue in Baltimore on Aug. 16 Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/ZUMA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — City officials across the country are nervously trying to figure out how to avoid becoming the next Charlottesville as alt-right leaders and white nationalist groups vow to stage more rallies in coming days. A group claiming it is advocating free speech has planned a rally for Saturday on the historic Boston Common, with a group advocating racial justice planning its own gathering in opposition. Boston officials said they have laid down strict conditions, including no sticks, weapons or backpacks. “Make no mistake: We do not welcome any hate groups to Boston, and we reject their message,” Mayor […]

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In The News

What Happens To Malls After Retail Shuts Shop?

Southdale Mall in Edina, MN
Southdale Mall in Edina, MN Glen Stubbe/ZUMA

DETROIT — Outside Detroit, plans have been in the works for two years to transform the outdated Lakeside Mall into an open-air center with green space and a waterway. With the property in foreclosure and its ownership in limbo, the blueprints will have to be flexible. The mall’s troubles have spiraled since landlord GGP Inc. stopped paying the mortgage last year and then failed to find a buyer for the property amid turmoil in the retail industry. The center’s value, already less than the $135 million loan, was slashed another $25 million in February. Officials for the city of Sterling […]

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In The News

War Game, Nightmare Scenarios Of A U.S.-North Korea Conflict

War Game, Nightmare Scenarios Of A U.S.-North Korea Conflict

-Analysis- WASHINGTON, D.C. — A military confrontation with North Korea may now be “inevitable,” says Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) The United States is “done talking” about North Korea, tweets U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. President Trump threatens “fire and fury like the world has never seen,” then says maybe his language “wasn’t tough enough.” The North Koreans return verbal fire, talking of using “absolute force” to hit the U.S. territory of Guam and even “turn the U.S. mainland into the theater of a nuclear war.” In this moment of heated, belligerent rhetoric, planners in and out of government are diving […]

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In The News

Bumps In The Road: Don’t Bet On Uber Crashing

Bumps In The Road: Don't Bet On Uber Crashing
David Joles

NEW YORK — For six months now, almost all the news about Uber has been bad. Even before then, the ride-hailing company’s combative executive team displayed a remarkable facility for generating negative headlines, but since former Uber engineer Susan Fowler went public in February about seemingly systemic sexual-harassment problems at the company, it’s just been one disaster after the other. Ugly lawsuit over allegedly stealing autonomous-car secrets from Google parent Alphabet? Check! Revelations of a concerted effort to evade regulators around the world? Check! Embarrassing video of co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick rudely berating a diver? Check! Board […]

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In The News

Trump’s New Policies Are A Hit (They Are Obama’s)

Presidents Trump and Obama
Presidents Trump and Obama Marianique Santos/Planet Pix/ZUMA

-OpEd- WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump appears to have found himself a new national security adviser. His name is Barack Obama. Recent days have brought evidence of two foreign policy successes for the Trump administration: On Friday, a top State Department official who has served in the Obama and Trump administrations announced that gains against the so-called Islamic State have picked up sharply and that the militants have lost 78% of their territory in Iraq and 58% in Syria. The Washington Post“s headline (which the White House circulated in an email): “Under Trump, gains against ISIS have dramatically accelerated.” Then, […]

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In The News

Out-Of-Touch Politicians? Power Is Damaging Their Brains

Bad case of delusions of grandeur
Bad case of delusions of grandeur Axel Heimken/DPA/ZUMA

Why we should force the powerful to submit to psychological and neurological examinations on a regular basis.

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In The News

The Good, Bad And Pointless Of Trump’s Immigration Plan

Tired, poor, huddled
Tired, poor, huddled Kathy123

Admitting newcomers based on their skills is smart; cutting their numbers in half is a mistake.

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Geopolitics Trump And The World

Six Months On, The Twisted Irony Of The Trump Presidency

Mirror effect
Mirror effect Olivier Douliery/CNP/ZUMA

In strange and not-so-strange ways, Donald Trump’s actions are having the opposite effect of what he intended.

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In The News

Albert Hofmann: Looking Back At LSD Inventor’s First Strange Trip

Father of LSD Albert Hofmann
Father of LSD Albert Hofmann darkblack66666

GENEVA — There are those few rare researchers through the ages so devoted to science that they have used their own bodies as a laboratory for their experiments. After inventing the hallucinogenic substance LSD, the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann unintentionally, and then intentionally, took doses of the drug. In his autobiography published in 1980, Hofmann […]

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Economy Future

Mixed Feelings From The Masses Awaiting Tesla’s New Model 3

Waiting for Tesla
Waiting for Tesla Misael Virgen/ZUMA

PALO ALTO — While his high-school classmates were blowing their money on Chipotle burritos and concert tickets, Truman Hale was saving up for a Tesla. In March of last year, after years of penny pinching, he plunked down a $1,000 deposit on a Model 3. Now a 21-year-old student at Arizona State University, he’s eager for more information about what will be his first car, which he hopes will be delivered before graduating in December 2018. “I want to only own electric cars,” he said. “I’m riding a bike because I’m saving for this car.” “The lack of information received […]

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In The News

What’s That You Say, Mr. Tillerson? U.S. Diplomacy Adrift Under Trump

Tillerson with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani
Tillerson with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani Ting Shen/Xinhua

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has done his best to stay close to the president, but that doesn’t translate into influence over American diplomacy.

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In The News

The Enduring Relevance Of Henry David Thoreau

Walden on the wall
Walden on the wall thierry ehrmann

-Essay- Does anyone even read Henry David Thoreau anymore? Today, July 12, marks the 200th anniversary of the American poet and philosopher’s birth. And much is being said and written about him — not all of it flattering. His work is “anecdotal,” some say. Or “irrelevant,” “juvenile” even. To answer the initial question, I do. […]

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In The News

Trump And Russia, It’s Even More Complicated Now

Trump at July 4th ceremonies
Trump at July 4th ceremonies Zach Gibson/CNP via ZUMA

As President Trump prepares for his first face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his plans for a reset with Russia are undermined by his own actions.

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In The News

How To Really Hurt Google, Europe-Style

How To Really Hurt Google, Europe-Style
Pexels/Photofunia/Worldcrunch

-Analysis- PARIS — There are always worse things in life than money troubles. The record $2.7-billion fine that the European Commission slapped on Google for breaching competition rules is a major financial blow for the company. But for a firm making billions of dollars like Google, the mega-penalty isn’t the main problem. It’s never enjoyable […]

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