On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK
What: My Fury
Why: Because today, I am furious.

Yesterday, the culmination in one of the worst weeks of the year, because yes, things can get worse. Donald Trump remains a clear and present danger to the safety and well-being United States. He announced his support of nationalism as a die-hard follower mailed bombs to numerous current and former politicians, news outlets, and prominent business and entertainment leaders. Days later, Trump continues to personally attack those targeted. He announced his desire for further tax cuts (which is an impossibility due to Congress being out of session). This was while Wall Street wiped out essentially all gains made over the last year.

Most important and closest to me, he has continuously stoked fears of the take over of America by Jews. He continuously attacks George Soros, as Trump and Republicans claim Soros is funding the thousands of refugees fleeing South American violence a ploy to sneak terrorists into the U.S. as part of a globalist (read, Jewish) plot. Yesterday, a man screaming “I just want to kill Jews” did exactly that. Eleven people were murdered in cold blood because the current administration and the Republican party is actively courting antisemitism as part of its platform, and someone finally listened. A man was persuaded by constant Fox News dog-whistles that it was time to murder innocent people in the same synagogue where my cousin completed her conversion, and where a friend and his family continue to call their place of prayer.

As I said: I am furious.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: Brazil Turns Fascist
Why: Because it turns out it is exceptionally easy to destroy democracies.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Falling
Why: Because the tax cuts apparently can’t prop up an economy that well.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Judges Installed During Recess
Why: Because political norms don’t matter.

TECH THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Github.office.com
Why: Because Github, essentially, the free “how to” of the internet, is now owned by Microsoft.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Boston Wins World Series
Why: Because LA sucks.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Killer Queen
Why: Because Rami Malek does an amazing job channeling Freddie Mercury.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Call Your Girlfriend To Go Clubbing
Why: Because Robyn’s newest album is basically a deep club chill sesh.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (quick look)
What: Trump’s America
Why: Because this was the mail bomber’s van.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Red Dead 2
Why: Because the game is a sprawling, fully realized masterpiece. It remains unknown as to whether the sacrifices it takes to make such a masterpiece is worth it.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: $400 Of Caviar; Spend Jeff Bezos’ Money; Ideas If You Don’t Have A Costume Yet
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: A Better World.
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™

Greetings Webtaculators. Why is it that these weeks have so much happen in them that it is impossible to keep straight? The real thing that matters is that our President has decided that truth is a negotiable thing: Oh, Turkey says a journalist was killed by Saudis in the Saudi consulate at the orders of the Saudi prince? Well, the Saudis say no such thing happened, and I believe them. Oh, now it turns out the journalist was killed, but it was probably due to a fistfight between the journalist and a bunch of rogue actors. I still believe them. Truth is non-negotiable. Also, Elizabeth Warren apparently does have some Native American lineage, but because of the nonsense world we now live in, instead of everyone focusing on the fact that the President was blatantly racist to someone with Native American ancestors, everyone is focusing on Warren’s bad timing and bad delivery of that fact. PRESIDENT TRUMP CALLED SOMEONE “POCAHONTAS” TO HER FACE. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Immigrant Vs. Refugee
Why: Because thousands of people fleeing Honduras are traveling en masse to the United States. Trump, of course, wants to punish Honduras instead of help people. For a New Yorker, I’m surprised he isn’t aware of the Statue Of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: The Passing Of A Giant
Why: Because Microsoft founder Paul Allen passed away. Bill Gates had some very kind words for the man.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (8 minute read)
What: A Destruction Of Civil Rights
Why: Because the United States is very close to rolling back legal protections for trans-gendered Americans. The people currently in charge of our federal government are monsters.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Stupid Man Wants More Nukes
Why: Because the world, and the United States, for that matter, do not need more nukes. There is no more mutually assured destruction available: we already have enough to blow up the entire planet.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: LA Vs. Boston
Why: Because two of the most hated baseball franchises get to play each other in the World Series. Go Red Sox.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: SPOOOKY
Why: Because there are lots of good scary movies.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: The Failure Of The US On The World Stage
Why: Because the United States has been generally terrible at winning hearts and minds overseas for the last couple of decades. Here are a couple of books that explain why.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: A Tale Of Swords And Souls Eternally Retold
Why: Because the sixth entry to the Soulcalibur fighting game series is a wonderful entry to a very fun game with a very stupid yet earnest story. People are also having a blast with its character creator.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Decent List Of The Best Internet; Incredibly Bad List Of Best Halloween Candy; Smart People Are Finally Listening To My Request For Less / Better News;
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Lotto Ticket
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™

Greetings Webtaculators. A buddy of mine and I were having dinner last night at a bar pub type place. One of the screens was showing something called Chive TV, a sophomoric take on America’s Funniest Home Videos, created for a spinoff channel of an internet site that was originally trying to be a mix of  The Onion and College Humor. The premise is essentially 24 hour nonstop “internet videos,” with little context and no commentary, on a continuous loop. There was our own conversation, baseball playoff games, college football, and even live Drag Queen Bingo that were all vying for our attention. 6 second videos of humans acting like idiots won over them all, including our discussion about how ridiculous that this drivel was engaging to two very educated, decently successful people. Our lizard brains could not turn away, even as we were saying how incredibly dumb it was that we couldn’t. This is why I try to mostly  stick to text. I know, reading is hard and tedious, but it at least forces you to pay attention. Assuming you’re not simultaneously watching dumb internet videos. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: This Is How The World Ends
Why: Because our planet is going to kill us all. Luckily (?) this storm hit in a “relatively” uncrowded area, but there will be others of this magnitude. As always, FEMA is not doing a great job. In my area, the local utility, for the first time in its history, has decided that in order to curtail the threat of fire, it will cut power to customers in situations where in high threat (read super windy, dry and hot conditions[basically always in California now]) occur. Things are only going to get worse. In the meantime, it’s perfectly fine that countries are murdering journalists.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What:  Back To The Start
Why: Because a massive market correction wiped out all stock gains since essentially January of this year. Things are not looking better for this week.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Death To The Death Penalty
Why: Because judges aren’t all bad. Read the opinion here.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: Magic Leap? More Like Illusion Fall! 
Why: Because according to one reviewer, there doesn’t seem to be so much that’s magical about what is supposed to be a game changing AR.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Good Football
Why: Because even though the league and sport are trash, it still can prove to be a fun game.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: First
Why: Because First Man is a good space movie.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: We’re Doing It Live
Why: Because it’s not often that an original motion picture soundtrack does well on the charts anymore. It helps if one of the artists in the film is Lady Gaga, though.

PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. look)
What: Total Destruction
Why: Because this is what hurricanes will continue to look like.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (8 min. read)
What: More Books You Should Read But Haven’t Yet
Why: Because for a men’s magazine, Esquire is actually doing a good job of representation in their recommendations.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: CODBLOPS IIII
Why: Because people who play video games apparently really like Call Of Duty: Black Ops but hate correct use of Roman numerals.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Gettin’ Genie With It (Because Will Smith Is The Genie [Sorry]); Wayne Jackson;
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Gritty Cake
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™

Greetings Webtaculators. I don’t have it in me to do much for this issue. I am still devastated. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK
What: Kavanaugh; or Trump; Or China
Why: Because this week was very, very bad.

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK
What: High Employment
Why: Because jobs are good, but the jobs that seem to be boosting the numbers are not especially great for humans – little upwards mobility, little stability, and low pay. At least Amazon increased its minimum wage to $15 – just don’t pay attention to the fact that that they also nuked holiday pay, bonuses, and stock options as part of it.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK
What: Justice Kavanaugh
Why: Because the Supreme Court is tainted.

SCIENCE THING OF THE WEEK
What: Getting Warmer
Why: Because the world is running out of time to fight against global warming. Read the whole thing here.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK
What: UFC Is A Stupid Circus
Why: Because there is no way that this should be a legitimate business.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK
What: Venom, AKA What If Spider-Man Were Evil And Invented In The Late 90s?
Why: Because this somehow is a winning recipe for a successful movie.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK
What: ICP Tried To Drop Kick Limp Bizkit
Why: Because we are living in the stupidest version of reality.

ART THING OF THE WEEK
What: Destroy It All
Why: Because Banksy destroyed his “Girl with Balloon” with a shredder built into the frame of the painting just after it sold for $1.4 million.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK
What: Go Explore Greece
Why: Because the Assassin’s Creed series has grown way beyond its initial premise of “murder people in historic era.”

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK
What: No more internet this week. Go outside and take a walk. Listen to birds. Talk to friends. It’s much healthier for you.
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Fewer evil people.
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™