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[Report] The Thin Purple Line

The dubious rise of the private-security industry

by Jasper Craven,

Current Issue September 2024

[Letter from Poland] My Auschwitz Vacation

On Holocaust tourism

by Tanya Gold,

[Miscellany] The New Age Bible

On the origins of A Course in Miracles

by Sheila Heti,

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which the known investments of Democrats in Congress and their spouses outperformed the S&P 500 in 2023 : 28

[Harper’s Index]

By which those of Republicans in Congress and their spouses underperformed it : 38

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. adults who say that rule by a panel of unelected experts would be a good way to govern the country : 1/2

[Harper’s Index]

Portion who say they have at some point wanted to be president : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Portion who think they themselves would be a worse president than Donald Trump : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Who think they would be as good as him or better : 3/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of likely Trump voters who believe that he has committed serious federal crimes : 18

[Harper’s Index]

Who believe that he should be sentenced to prison : 8

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that crime is the most important issue to them in the 2024 election : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that foreign policy is : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since November in the portion of U.S. adults who say that the country should be more engaged globally : 29

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they want Russia to win the war in Ukraine : 7

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage who say they are concerned to any degree about China’s treatment of Uighurs : 62

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who consider North Korea to be the greatest enemy of the United States : 4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage who consider the United States to be its own greatest enemy : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of black U.S. adults who say that the government promotes birth control and abortion to limit the black population : 51

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that the government encourages single motherhood for black women to eliminate the need for black men : 55

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that U.S. medical professionals today perform experiments on black people without their knowledge or consent : 55

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that the country’s media intentionally holds back black people : 52

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage of newspaper-publisher employees in the United States in 2000 who were employed by the New York Times : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Who were employed by the New York Times in 2023 : 6

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that news from The New Yorker is trustworthy or very trustworthy : 25

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that news from the New York Post is : 27

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who think that other people should apologize more often : 46

[Harper’s Index]

Who think that they themselves should apologize more often : 11

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase in road-rage shooting incidents in the United States since 2014 : 453

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of road-rage shooting incidents in that period that occurred in Texas : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase in dog attacks on postal workers in the United States reported over the past year : 9

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase in such attacks reported in Los Angeles : 35

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who have chosen not to call an ambulance during a medical emergency because of the potential cost : 23

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage of leading U.S. cancer treatment centers experiencing shortages of at least one chemotherapy drug : 89

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. adults who contracted COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 who did not recover within three months : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. funerals in 2005 in which the remains of the deceased were cremated : 32

[Harper’s Index]

Rachel Cusk and Ben Lerner: Live in Conversation

Presented by Harper’s Magazine and the John Templeton Foundation.

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Monday Gallery

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“Raton, New Mexico,’ a photograph by Steve Fitch, whose work is on view through August 31 at Joseph Bellows Gallery, in La Jolla, California.

Smoke, a painting by Mathew Cerletty, whose work is on view as part of the exhibition A Particular Kind of Heaven through September 1 at Karma, in Thomaston, Maine.

"Rearview," a photograph by Rose Marie Cromwell, whose work is on view through October 27 at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami.

Courtesy the artist and the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami

Dear Summer, a painting by Jerrell Gibbs, whose work is on view as part of the exhibition The Wrong Sea through October 5 at Dunes, in Portland, Maine.

Courtesy the artist and Night Gallery, Los Angeles

A photograph by Harry Gruyaert, from his series TV Shots: Olympics 1972, which is on view online through September 22 with 28 Vignon Street.

Courtesy the artist and Gallery FIFTY ONE, Antwerp, Belgium

In the News

Percentage by which the known investments of Democrats in Congress and their spouses outperformed the S&P 500 in 2023 : 28

By which those of Republicans in Congress and their spouses underperformed it : 38

Portion of U.S. adults who say that rule by a panel of unelected experts would be a good way to govern the country : 1/2

Portion who say they have at some point wanted to be president : 1/4

Portion who think they themselves would be a worse president than Donald Trump : 1/5

Who think they would be as good as him or better : 3/5

Percentage of likely Trump voters who believe that he has committed serious federal crimes : 18

Who believe that he should be sentenced to prison : 8

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that crime is the most important issue to them in the 2024 election : 3

Who say that foreign policy is : 1

Percentage increase since November in the portion of U.S. adults who say that the country should be more engaged globally : 29

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they want Russia to win the war in Ukraine : 7

Percentage who say they are concerned to any degree about China’s treatment of Uighurs : 62

Percentage of U.S. adults who consider North Korea to be the greatest enemy of the United States : 4

Percentage who consider the United States to be its own greatest enemy : 5

Percentage of black U.S. adults who say that the government promotes birth control and abortion to limit the black population : 51

Who say that the government encourages single motherhood for black women to eliminate the need for black men : 55

Who say that U.S. medical professionals today perform experiments on black people without their knowledge or consent : 55

Who say that the country’s media intentionally holds back black people : 52

Estimated percentage of newspaper-publisher employees in the United States in 2000 who were employed by the New York Times : 1

Who were employed by the New York Times in 2023 : 6

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that news from The New Yorker is trustworthy or very trustworthy : 25

Who say that news from the New York Post is : 27

Percentage of U.S. adults who think that other people should apologize more often : 46

Who think that they themselves should apologize more often : 11

Percentage increase in road-rage shooting incidents in the United States since 2014 : 453

Portion of road-rage shooting incidents in that period that occurred in Texas : 1/5

Percentage increase in dog attacks on postal workers in the United States reported over the past year : 9

Percentage increase in such attacks reported in Los Angeles : 35

Percentage of U.S. adults who have chosen not to call an ambulance during a medical emergency because of the potential cost : 23

Estimated percentage of leading U.S. cancer treatment centers experiencing shortages of at least one chemotherapy drug : 89

Portion of U.S. adults who contracted COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 who did not recover within three months : 1/5

Percentage of U.S. funerals in 2005 in which the remains of the deceased were cremated : 32

Percentage in 2023 in which the remains of the deceased were cremated : 61

Percentage of married U.S. adults who believe in the concept of true love : 75

Who say they have found true love but not with their current spouse : 10

Percentage of U.S. adults who describe themselves as realists : 47

Who describe themselves as freethinkers : 36

Who describe themselves as idealists : 16

August 27, 2024

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What Are You Going to Do With That?

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Past Issues

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From the Archive

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Microplastics were found in sixty-two of sixty-two human placentas from a biobank in Texas.

Toxicity has remained a consistent feature of online interactions since 1989.

Humans are losing their ability to digest cellulose.

A metal scar on the surface of the white dwarf WD 0816-310 indicated that it has cannibalized other bodies in its orbit.

An orca acting alone killed a great white shark and ate its liver.

Genomic analysis indicated that psychedelic mushrooms emerged around the time of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic mass extinction.

The playing speed of a metal guitarist directly correlates with his intrasexual competitiveness but not his mating success.

Depression in humans is correlated with higher body temperature, and cold-water swimming mitigates menopause symptoms.

Researchers warned that, as temperatures rise, humans should prepare for more diarrhea.

Off the Five Finger Islands, a team of cetologists aboard the Glacier Seal conducted an extended conversation with a female humpback named Twain.

Astrophysicists argued that the development of advanced alien technology requires an atmosphere composed of at least 18 percent oxygen.

Onshore wind turbines severely deter German bats from foraging.

An AI that was fed the employment and health data of six million Danes turned out to be more accurate than existing sociological methods at predicting if a given person was about to die.

A mother is 4.6 percent more likely to give birth in the same month she was born, and adjacent siblings are 12.1 percent more likely to be born in the same month as one another.

Electric eel discharge transforms the DNA of zebrafish larvae.

True crabs independently evolved to live out of the ocean up to seventeen times.

The average American girl born in 2019 will take prescription drugs for more than half her life.

Scientists were not certain whether the globally synchronized waves observed in the brains of wakeful rats on ketamine or LSD were a cause or a symptom of hallucinations.

Geoscientists were confident that, given access to the oldest barnacles on the flaperon of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, they could help pinpoint its crash site.

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