Editor's note
|
|
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld Donald Trump’s travel ban, which bars people from several majority Muslim countries from entering the United States on national security grounds. Just because a policy is legal doesn’t make it effective, contends Rebecca Jayne Wolfe. She has studied political violence worldwide – including in countries targeted by Trump’s ban – and says profiling extremists simply doesn’t work.
These days, it seems like everyone is talking about the border crisis. But there is no crisis, says sociologist Doug Massey. Data show that the rate of undocumented migration from Mexico is approaching zero, and the number of immigrants from other Central American countries is small by historic standards.
And, in the lead-up to the World Cup, news leaked that Russian workers were being taught how to smile at foreign soccer fans. Professors of psychology Samuel Putnam and
Masha Gartstein confirm that the “smile gap” is real – and explain why it shouldn’t be seen as a sign that Russians are unfriendly, callous people.
|
Catesby Holmes
Global Affairs Editor
|
|
|
Top stories
|
People protest the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding President Donald Trump’s travel ban outside the Supreme Court in Washington, June 26, 2018.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Rebecca Jayne Wolfe, Yale University
Terrorists are wealthy. They're poor. They're Christian. They're atheists. They come from all over. That's why US counterterrorism efforts must be more nuanced than just barring Muslims.
|
A Border Patrol agent in New Mexico.
REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
Douglas Massey, Princeton University
Undocumented entries across the border are at all-time lows. The people now arriving are not Mexican workers, but a smaller number of Central American families seeking to escape dire circumstances.
|
Say cheese … or not. A woman works a stand at a cheese festival in Moscow, Russia.
AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin
Samuel Putnam, Bowdoin College; Masha A. Gartstein, Washington State University
In the US, smiling is a reflexive gesture of goodwill, but Russians view it as a sign of stupidity. Social psychology research could help explain this cultural contrast.
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Robert A. Sedler, Wayne State University
The Supreme Court struck down a California law requiring faith-based crisis pregnancy centers to post signs with information about family planning services.
-
Jeffrey Davis, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Trump’s executive order to end family separations at the border is too little too late, a human rights expert writes. Indefinitely detaining immigrants is breaking the law.
-
Laurel Leff, Northeastern University
Trump administration officials falsely claim the law required them to separate immigrant families. The same excuse was used in the Nazi era to bar hundreds of thousands of refugees from the US.
|
|
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Lindsay Grace, American University School of Communication
Just because people enjoy a recreational activity doesn't mean they're addicted to it, even if they spend lots of time doing it.
-
David Prologo, Emory University
Trainers and fitness gurus often tell their charges how to 'burn fat.' But what does that actually involve? Here's a Speed Read on something that actually takes a fairly long time.
-
Jonathan D Moreno, University of Pennsylvania; Sergio Litewka, University of Miami
A mystery disease that struck US personnel in Cuba and China triggered fears of a sonic weapon. But two experts argue that this is just about leveraging a medical mystery for political gain.
|
|
|
|
Trending on site
|
-
John Warner, UT Southwestern Medical Center
New guidelines for high blood pressure lower the numbers to define and diagnose high blood pressure. Here are some things you need to know, including how to make sure you get an accurate reading.
-
Joseph Nevins, Vassar College
Violence, poverty and oppression in Honduras are causing thousands to flee to the US. Will the next president own the role of US foreign policy in creating these problems?
-
Selin Malkoc, The Ohio State University
You might think you've made your day more efficient – but it can actually affect what you accomplish during your unstructured time.
|
|
Today’s chart
|
-
 |
Mary Jo Dudley
Cornell University
|
| |
| |
| |
|
|
