Donald Trump’s immigration speech, given on Wednesday night after his subdued visit to Mexico, was a return to form for the candidate, complete with yelling, gesticulation, and fearmongering. “Trump,” Isaac Chotiner writes, “proved once again that he is most comfortable when he gets to behave in the most blatantly authoritarian manner.”
Meanwhile, Reihan Salam, a proponent of immigration restriction, watched the speech with consternation. “Trump’s shambolic campaign,” Salam writes, “has been an utter own-goal disaster for the restrictionist coalition,” which may find its cause set back years at the end of this election cycle.
Workplace wellness programs offer health insurance “discounts” for good behavior—or, depending on your perspective, monetary penalties for failure to conform to relatively arbitrary standards. L.V. Anderson sets out to find evidence that these initiatives are effective, and comes up pretty much empty-handed.
Many more off-duty cops moonlight in paid security jobs than you might think—and Leon Neyfakh finds the setup troubling. “Does that mean that off-duty officers doing freelance work are allowed to do all the same stuff they can do when they’re on duty, like arrest people and search them and use force on them?” Neyfakh asks Seth Stoughton, a law professor who has worked as a police officer, and recently researched this phenomenon. “Yeah, absolutely,” Stoughton replies. “In fact, part of the reason why private employers hire them is that they’re perceived as more official than private security guards. The police officer who’s working off-duty for a private employer represents the state.”
Oliver Roeder explains why Thursday’s New York Times crossword puzzle, with its special “revealer” answer, is one for the record books. (Warning: Crossword spoilers ahead.)
For fun: The winner of Dahlia Lithwick’s Merrick Garland ice-cream flavor competition is …
Not my candidate, but oh well,
Rebecca
