Hello and welcome to the weekend.
The Guardian’s range was on display this week across these five very different stories. Grab a coffee and dig in, digest, and reflect on harrowing accounts of Trump’s immigration crackdown, investigations into modern motherhood and masculinity, and for a bit of weekend fun, we leave you with some celebrity gossip.
Enjoy.
1. Inside Trump’s new immigration dragnet
At the peak of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, armoured vehicles occupied neighbourhoods, while masked agents violently pulled people from the streets. After officers killed two US citizens during the raids in Minneapolis, public backlash prompted Trump to try a new approach. Now, ICE arrests have hit record levels. In this series, ICE 2.0, Guardian reporters track how, despite the administration’s change of tactics, ICE is everywhere.
Notable quote: “Before, they were storming around, making a lot of noise Now, they are moving more quietly.”
The violence continues: People are arrested while pumping gas, leaving behind their empty cars. They are arrested on their way to work, or on their way home. Recently, an ICE agent shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez in Texas. That same day, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a Guatemalan man died in a fiery crash while fleeing federal immigration agents. ICE is now detaining more immigrants than ever before, despite the new secretary of homeland security, Markwayne Mullin, promising to avoid negative headlines by cutting the flash and fanfare.
How long will it take to read: Under four minutes.
Further reading: All the stories from the series ICE 2.0: inside Trump’s new immigration dragnet.
2. Why does millennial motherhood feel so impossible?
Women today are more educated, more employed and more engaged in childcare arrangements than ever before. But research shows that the expectations facing modern mothers continue to grow. In Australia, the statistics illuminate a global phenomenon. New research shows that the cost for Australian families of raising two or more children has risen to at least $36,500 a year. The cost of keeping a family afloat has increased by 134% in two decades, while household income has grown by only 102% in the same period.
Between juggling rising costs and managing careers, is there any way out of the total overwhelm?
A problem with no solution: In this personal piece, Kate Lyons writes that millennial women no longer feel trapped in their homes like generations before, but rather, by the impossible juggle of managing their career, relationships and children. Lyons recounts a friend reaching out for advice late one night after their five-year-old had a meltdown before bed. Another woman Lyons spoke to got so desperate she turned towards ChatGPT, asking the AI chatbot how to make her life work. But solutions are not easy to come by. After Lyons assessed the state of her living room, which, “looks as though someone has taken the contents of a laundry basket, a toy box and a nappy bag and Jackson Pollocked the floor with them”, all she could offer was solidarity.
Notable quote: “It’s not that I want to be at home five days a week. I don’t want to be exactly like my mum was. But I want to pick them up from school and take them home and calmly wind down the day with them. There’s absolutely no way I can do that.”
How long will it take to read: Just under six minutes.
Further reading: Why birthrates are plummeting, and why workplaces were built for men.
3. Trump’s testosterone culture war
Polls show that Donald Trump is losing support with the bros that got him elected. As the midterms approach, the cost of living and the war on Iran have left male voters increasingly disillusioned. So how does one win them back? The health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, and the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, seem to think the hormone testosterone, often known simply as “T”, is the answer. Or as Sam Wolfson explains, Trump is hoping that “the male populace will vote not with their heads or their hearts, but with their hogs”.
The testosterone dog-whistle: Testosterone is found in the bodies of men and women, with a low amount all that is needed for normal function. But the hormone has emerged on the frontlines of the Trump administration’s many culture wars. While the war in Iran causes problems for Trump back home, Hegseth has shifted the military message to one of machismo. On the campaign trail, he said, “We’re reminding our warriors that their sole purpose is to be the most lethal fighting force on the planet. Full stop. We’re not here to do social engineering, or social justice, or gender-bending, or DEI, or dudes and dresses.” But Wolfson writes that Hegseth’s testosterone push is a “sciencey” way to dog-whistle his sexist message.
Notable quote: “Everything has been politicized in the United States. Vaccines are liberal and TRT is Maga. The needle is apolitical but the content of the syringe is decided by who you vote for.”
How long will it take to read: eight minutes.
Further reading: The Pentagon and “incel” slang, plus RFK Jr’s “peptide wild west”.
4. Exposing the world’s biggest porn bosses
Patricia Nilsson was determined to bring porn industry leaders out of the shadows. For five years, she subjected the adult industry to forensic analysis in an effort to reveal who was getting rich through porn and how they were doing it. For decades, the owners of these companies have escaped scrutiny, and they have often enjoyed relative anonymity. But porn is everywhere, and for many young men and women, adult content can be their default sex education. Nilsson argues the owners of businesses that are recalibrating our sexual culture deserve further investigation.
Notable quote: “My argument is not that we should be neutral towards porn, but that we need to accept and understand it as a real industry, and ask what its growth and popularity says about the state of our economy and the world of work.”
The story of porn is the story of the internet: Nilsson argues that even if you do not consume explicit content online, the industry has shaped the way you interact with the digital world. We have porn to thank, she says, for high-quality video streaming and the way influencers sell their online personas. “Staring at content that is algorithmically engineered to arouse you is a perfect metaphor for our relationship with our devices and the internet and social media,” Nilsson says.
How long will it take to read: About five minutes.
Further reading: The malignant rise of OnlyFans managers and the rise of deepfake pornography in schools.
5. Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant on sex scenes, parties and theatre
Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant have stories to tell. The actors have joined forces for the first time in a London production of Noël Coward’s comedic play Hay Fever. The Guardian sat down with the actors to get a glimpse of the tall tales told backstage.
Notable quote: When asked if she has ever worked with Grant before, Baranski wryly says: “Regrettably not. We could have had some good fun a few decades ago. A girl could have got into some real trouble. But here we are, and now we’re the veterans.”
Skinny dipping in the dark: Recalling her “marvellous house” on a lake in Connecticut, Baranski recounts an evening spent with Mark Rylance when the pair went skinny-dipping and ended up howling at the moon till four in the morning. Pressed on whether taking your clothes off is a prerequisite for visiting, Baranski says: “I encourage people only if they’re comfortable and if it’s pitch dark.”
How long will it take to read: five minutes of gossipy joy.
Further reading: How Richard E Grant ended up on Celebrity Traitors.
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