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[Report] Revenge Plot

The GOP’s identity crisis

by Lauren Oyler,

Current Issue November 2024

[Publisher’s Letter] Lewis H. Lapham’s Legacy

by John R. MacArthur,

[Letter from Bougainville] The Island King

A fugitive monarch dreams of fortune and freedom

by Sean Williams,

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which Americans are more likely to disapprove of a woman’s election to the presidency than a person of color’s : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of minutes of daily housework done by married American men who identify
as liberal : 99

[Harper’s Index]

By married American men who identify as conservative : 88

[Harper’s Index]

As moderate : 70

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who say they try to be polite when interacting with AI chatbots : 44

[Harper’s Index]

Who believe their treatment of AI chatbots “will one day be taken into account somehow” : 39

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage increase since 1980 in the portion of homicides in the United States that go unsolved : 64

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated ratio of pets to children under the age of 4 in China : 1:1

[Harper’s Index]

Year in which this ratio is projected to reach 2:1 : 2030

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of global net growth in renewable-energy capacity last year attributable to China : 63

[Harper’s Index]

Amount that the average American believed they would need to save for a comfortable retirement in 2020 : $951,000

[Harper’s Index]

In 2024 : $1,460,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase this year in the number of Fidelity 401(k) accounts worth more than $1,000,000 : 39

[Harper’s Index]

Number of points by which the average credit score drops in a U.S. state after three years of legalized online sports betting : 7

[Harper’s Index]

Average percentage by which the rate of personal bankruptcy increases in such states : 28

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of American families traveling to a Disney theme park in 2022 that took on debt to do so : 30

[Harper’s Index]

In 2024 : 45

[Harper’s Index]

Average debt taken on by such a family for their trip : $1,983

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who view fast food as a “luxury” : 78

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who have worked at McDonald’s : 1/8

[Harper’s Index]

Who have worked at any fast-food restaurant : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. college seniors who are interested in becoming a corporate executive : 1/2

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease since 2022 in mentions of diversity on S&P 500 earnings calls : 52

[Harper’s Index]

In mentions of climate change : 74

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change this year in the portion of Democrats who say that businesses should take public political stances : −14

[Harper’s Index]

In the portion of Republicans who say so : +29

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which the number of sanctions imposed by the United States exceeds that of any other country : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage of the population of Cuba that has emigrated since 2022 : 18

[Harper’s Index]

That emigrated in the four years following the 1959 revolution : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease since 1983 in the portion of American 19-year-olds with driver’s licenses : 21

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who in 2019 preferred to watch movies in theaters : 58

[Harper’s Index]

In 2024 : 35

[Harper’s Index]

Rank of cleanliness among Americans’ grievances with movie theaters : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of single American adults who have sent a nude photo of themselves to someone in the past year : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of photos stored in an American smartphone user’s camera roll : 2,795

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage of these that are selfies : 58

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Monday Gallery

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The Descending, a painting by Jenny Morgan, whose work is on view through December 21 at Anat Ebgi, in New York City.

Courtesy the artist and Anat Ebgi

Self-Reflection, c. 1901–02, a drawing by Alfred Kubin, whose work is on view through January 12, 2025 at the ALBERTINA Modern Museum in Vienna, Austria. The accompanying catalog Alfred Kubin: The Aesthetics of Evil was published by Hatje Cantz.

Worcester Bear, a mixed-media artwork by Sarah Sense, whose work is on view through November 23 at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, in New York City.

A page from Eugénie Grandet, by Honoré de Balzac from 1833, which is included in the exhibition and accompanying catalogue for Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy, which is on view through May 4, 2025 at the Morgan Library and Museum, in New York City.

Courtesy the Morgan Library and Museum, New York City

Mountain Dance, a painting by Alyina Zaidi, whose work is on view through November 20 at Alexander Berggruen, in New York City.

In the News

Factor by which Americans are more likely to disapprove of a woman’s election to the presidency than a person of color’s : 3

Portion of U.S. partisan races in 2022 that were uncontested : 1/2

Estimated percentage of these in which the sole candidate was a Democrat : 22

In which the sole candidate was a Republican : 74

Average number of minutes of daily housework done by married American men who identify as liberal : 99

By married American men who identify as conservative : 88

As moderate : 70

Percentage of Americans who say they try to be polite when interacting with AI chatbots : 44

Who believe their treatment of AI chatbots “will one day be taken into account somehow” : 39

Estimated percentage increase since 1980 in the portion of homicides in the United States that go unsolved : 64

Estimated ratio of pets to children under the age of 4 in China : 1:1

Year in which this ratio is projected to reach 2:1 : 2030

Percentage of global net growth in renewable-­energy capacity last year attributable to China : 63

Amount that the average American believed they would need to save for a comfortable retirement in 2020 : $951,000

In 2024 : $1,460,000

Percentage increase this year in the number of Fidelity 401(k) accounts worth more than $1,000,000 : 39

Number of points by which the average credit score drops in a U.S. state after three years of legalized online sports betting : 7

Average percentage by which the rate of personal bankruptcy increases in such states : 28

Percentage of American families traveling to a Disney theme park in 2022 that took on debt to do so : 30

In 2024 : 45

Average debt taken on by such a family for their trip : $1,983

Percentage of Americans who view fast food as a “luxury” : 78

Portion of Americans who have worked at McDonald’s : 1/8

Who have worked at any fast-­food restaurant : 1/3

Portion of U.S. college seniors who are interested in becoming a corporate executive : 1/2

Percentage decrease since 2022 in mentions of diversity on S&P 500 earnings calls : 52

In mentions of climate change : 74

Percentage change this year in the portion of Democrats who say that businesses should take public political stances : −14

In the portion of Republicans who say so : +29

Factor by which the number of sanctions imposed by the United States exceeds that of any other country : 3

Estimated percentage of the population of Cuba that has emigrated since 2022 : 18

That emigrated in the four years following the 1959 revolution : 5

Percentage decrease since 1983 in the portion of American 19-year-olds with driver’s licenses : 21

Percentage of Americans who in 2019 preferred to watch movies in theaters : 58

In 2024 : 35

Rank of cleanliness among Americans’ grievances with movie theaters : 1

Portion of single American adults who have sent a nude photo of themselves to someone in the past year : 1/4

Average number of photos stored in an American smartphone user’s camera roll : 2,795

Estimated percentage of these that are selfies : 58

November 5, 2024

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The Seventy Percent

Ithaca

Discourse to Self

Past Issues

Harper’s Finest

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.

Debug

Average number of minutes of daily housework done by married American men who identify
as liberal : 99

Percentage of global net growth in renewable-energy capacity last year attributable to China : 63

Who have worked at any fast-food restaurant : 1/3