This article was originally published by Hakai Magazine.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer of 2023 was the hottest on record. In the Caribbean, coral reefs sat in sweltering water for months—stewing in a dangerous marine heat wave that started earlier, lasted longer, and climbed to higher temperatures than ever recorded in some locations. In some places, the water was more than 32  degrees Celsius—as toasty as a hot tub.

For the venerable American Civil Liberties Union, Donald Trump’s four years in the White House had the intensity of life during wartime.
The group filed its first lawsuit against the Trump administration on January 28, 2017, just eight days after Trump took office and one day after he promulgated his first attempt at banning the entry into the U.S. of travelers from several Muslim-majority nations.
The pace of the organization’s legal combat against Trump never let up.

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Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what’s keeping them entertained. Today’s special guest is Charlie Warzel, a staff writer and the author of the Galaxy Brain newsletter.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul unfurled a subway “safety” plan last week. It included assigning 750 National Guard and 250 state police and Metropolitan Transit Authority officers to the subway—in addition to the 1,000 NYPD officers the mayor added in February—to check riders’ bags. The governor insisted that her plan is designed to protect New Yorkers and keep them riding the trains. “My No. 1 priority is the safety of all New Yorkers,” she said.

America’s most radical experiment with drug decriminalization has ended, after more than three years of painful results. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has pledged to sign legislation repealing the principal elements of the ballot initiative known as Measure 110: Possessing hard drugs is again a crime in Oregon, and courts will return to mandating treatment for offenders.

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It’s Friday, and we’ve probably all had enough of political news, so instead I’m going to gripe about the decline of my favorite kind of television: “mystery box” shows that center on a secret or a conspiracy. The conceit has gotten out of control.

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This week, The Atlantic published its list of the 136 most significant American novels of the past century.

My daughter Maggie gave birth to Ellie, my granddaughter, by C‑section on a Saturday afternoon in November of 2014. That evening, my son‑in‑law, Aaron, came over for a warm hug and a celebratory shot of bourbon. I listened to Aaron’s play‑by‑play of the events, and after a decent pause, I asked the question that I had wanted to ask all along:
“Did you check the box?”
Without missing a beat, my good son‑in‑law responded, “Yes, sir. I did.”
“Very good,” I responded, as I poured a second shot.

Not even the most passionate supporters of Vladimir Putin are pretending that the results of this weekend’s election are in doubt: Putin, Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, is about to embark on his sixth term.

The first dinner I ever hosted in the United States was the spontaneous act of a homesick college freshman. I had nowhere to go during spring break, so I cooked maqlubeh (spiced rice, eggplant, and chicken) and, true to my culture, made enough to feed any student left behind in the dorm.