The Week - USA (2021-02-19)

12 NEWS Best columns: The U.S.

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QA wannabe air traffic con-

troller in Berlin has been giv-

ing fake instructions to com-

mercial airliners for the past

six months. The unidentified

man is said to have become

“increasingly professional

with his communications”

to passenger and transport

aircraft and even police

and federal helicopters. He

was arrested after he sent

instructions to a helicopter

police had sent to hover over

his neighborhood. Police

discovered two sophisticated

radios in his home capable of

transmitting to aircraft. They

called it “an unusual arrest.”

QA Canadian dare-

devil felt both joy

and misery after

he scarfed three

Carolina Reapers—

the world’s hottest

chile peppers—in

under 10 seconds.

Mike Jack broke a world

record by swallowing the in-

cendiary peppers so quickly,

and then immediately

burst into a fit of coughing,

gagging, and retching. The

peppers pack an average

of up to 1.6 million Scoville

Heat Units, or roughly 200

times as much as an aver-

age jalapeño pepper. Jack

said it felt like “somebody

grabbed onto (my) intestines,

squeezed them, and gave

them a little twist.” He added,

“My eyes are crying, but I’m

happy on the inside.”

QThe ultimate “Florida man”

twice phoned 911 to ask

police for a late-night ride

home. Matthew Leatham, 22,

who has a tattoo of the state

on his forehead, phoned the

cops at 4 a.m. in New Port

Richey saying that he had no

other way to get home. An

officer offered to call him a

cab, but Leatham told him

that he didn’t have enough

money. He began walking

but called back a little while

later to ask again. This time

police tracked the call and

arrested Leatham on the side

of the road. He was charged

with abusing the 911 system

and possession of marijuana.

It must be true...

I read it in the tabloids

The pandemic has been “cataclysmic” for working mothers, said He-

laine Olen. It’s not just that women, black and Latino women especially,

hold a disproportionate share of the “customer-facing positions” most

likely to be furloughed or eliminated. “The issue is the children.” With

many schools still entirely online and many child-care centers closed, it’s

mostly women who’ve sacrificed their careers to fill the void. Millions

of women are now “acting as unpaid teacher’s assistants, tackling the

increased housework that results when everyone is home all the time,

and serving as always-on playmates.” Many moms can relate to Drisana

Rios, a San Diego former insurance executive who says she was fired be-

cause she couldn’t keep her yelling toddlers from disrupting Zoom meet-

ings. This summer, a study revealed that one-third of unemployed women

under the age of 40 were not working because they needed to mind their

children. When school resumed in September, hundreds of thousands

of additional women left the workforce, and last month, 275,000 more

“ceased employment or looking for work.” The pandemic has reversed

decades of progress, returning women’s workforce participation to where

it was in the late 1980s. It could take years to undo the damage.

Until recently, Americans could depend on their mortgage payments,

checks, and other important mail arriving within days of being sent, said

USA Today. “No more.” Under Postmaster Louis DeJoy, the perfor-

mance of the USPS has badly deteriorated. After DeJoy imposed a series

of untested “cost-cutting strategies” at the same time the coronavirus

was depleting the USPS workforce, just 64 percent of first-class mail was

delivered on time during the Christmas season. Of nonlocal first-class

mail, only 38 percent arrived on time, with many letters and periodicals

arriving weeks after being mailed. Service has improved somewhat,

but the “affection most Americans have had for the USPS is tarnishing

quickly.” President Biden can’t fire DeJoy, who was hired by the postal

service’s board of governors after he donated millions to President Trump

and the GOP. But Biden can fire and replace Republican board members

who were appointed by Trump—a president who called the USPS “a

joke.” The board can then bring in a professional postmaster, and Con-

gress can repeal a ruinous requirement that the USPS prefund billions in

pension obligations. “DeJoy’s incompetence” can no longer be tolerated,

and for the sake of our mail service, he must be replaced.

During the early months of the pandemic, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

“was lauded as a hero,” said Pradheep Shanker. While former President

Trump was being assailed for an inept pandemic response, Cuomo’s daily

press conferences brought rapturous reviews from progressives and the

media and even led to an international Emmy award and a book con-

tract. We now know Cuomo was “playing political games” and lying

about the horrific death toll in his state’s nursing homes. The truth comes

to us from Cuomo’s own attorney general and political protégé, Letitia

James, who released a report last week showing that New York’s nursing-

home deaths were at least 56 percent higher than the state reported—an

estimated 13,000 deaths instead of the state’s tally of 8,711. State officials

had declined to count nursing-home residents who died after being trans-

ferred to hospitals. Why the deception? Back in March, Cuomo ordered

nursing homes to readmit patients who were being treated for Covid—

a terrible decision that spread infections like wildfire. Every public official

made mistakes in the early days of the pandemic, but to lie about your

errors to protect your claim of heroism is a form of “moral depravity.”

The damage

to working

mothers

Helaine Olen

The Washington Post

Cuomo’s lies

about Covid

deaths

Pradheep Shanker

NationalReview.com

To i mprove

mail service,

dump DeJoy

USA Today

Editorial

“I wake up every day and ask myself that question: How long? Some days, the

self-care activities I started in March—like yoga and dressing up in nice outfits

with nowhere to go—still work, and I’m full of joy. But those days are fewer and fewer, and surviv-

ing the pandemic has started to feel like a Sisyphean feat: hopeless and painful. I miss my friends so

much it hurts, and I cry more than I used to. I find myself exhausted. With most of us not receiving

the vaccine for many months—months in which we must remain isolated, focused on surviving—

how long will it be before we get some semblance of our lives back?”

Nylah Burton in NYMag.com

Viewpoint