Too Many Laws & A Washing Machine Collector

Featured Articles

America Has Too Many Laws

The Atlantic • 5 Aug 2024 • ~5200 words

For an outsider like me, one of the most mind-boggling things about the US is how litigious it is and how its laws seem to be moving away from common sense towards unsensible rigidity. This article suggests that this growth in law and regulation is tied to a decline in civic institutions, social trust, and respect for individual judgment as people increasingly turn to the government to solve problems. While the article is US-specific, I believe it’s a problem many developed nations face on different levels.

Less than 100 years ago, all of the federal government's statutes fit into a single volume. By 2018, the U.S. Code encompassed 54 volumes and approximately 60,000 pages. Over the past decade, Congress has adopted an average of 344 new pieces of legislation each session. That amounts to 2 million to 3 million words of new federal law each year.

The Charming, Eccentric, Blessed Life of Lee Maxwell

5280 • 31 Jul 2024 • ~5000 words

These days, we don't often come across beautifully written profiles like this one. Lee Maxwell is a 91-year-old man who has amassed a record-breaking collection of over 1,500 washing machines. As he navigates the bittersweet moments following his wife's passing, this article captures the essence of their charming and eccentric life while telling a deeper story of companionship and loss.

Even Lee’s washing machine collection began with his wife. As he often tells the story, the couple bought an RV when Lee retired in 1985, and they planned a road trip from Colorado to Maine. Somewhere in Iowa, they stopped at a farmer’s estate sale. There, among the implements and tools, Lee spied a 1907 Maytag Model 44. He loved the machine’s beauty and the mechanics of it. Over time, he began to love the idea that these machines changed women’s roles at home. Barbara didn’t object when Lee paid $100 for the contraption and loaded it into their ride. She didn’t complain much, either, when he kept stopping and buying up antique washers. “We bought 12 more all the way to Maine,” Lee says. “We came home with a mobile home and a new trailer filled with washing machines.”

Recommended Articles

For far too long, medicine has ignored the valuable insights that patients have into their own diseases. It is time to listen

Aeon • 5 Aug 2024 • ~3500 words

Can integrating patient insights into research reshape our understanding of diseases and lead to more effective healthcare solutions? The piece from Aeon calls for greater inclusion and accommodation of disabled researchers in academia, emphasizing that their perspectives are crucial for advancing collective understanding and transforming healthcare to serve the needs of disabled individuals better.

. . . The fact is: patients can have different priorities from clinicians. They can see things that clinicians may not recognise because they accrue vital first-person knowledge that comes from living with disability or illness. And they are most certainly stakeholders in the research outcome of their own disease.

Inside the Texas Crime Lab That’s Cracked Hundreds of Cold Cases

Texas Monthly • 18 Jul 2024 • ~6600 words

In this look at the cutting-edge work at Othram, a Texas crime lab, we explore how forensic genetic genealogy helps solve cold cases that have lingered for decades. This article delves into the science behind identifying suspects from DNA evidence and shares convincing stories of justice finally being served. However, there are also privacy concerns and legal questions around warrantless DNA collection.

Forensic genetic genealogy relies on a certain degree of ethical ambiguity. After a lab such as Othram identifies a potential culprit, detectives must then collect the suspect’s DNA—often surreptitiously—in order to match it to DNA found at the crime scene. Usually this is done by taking items from a suspect’s garbage, as in the Golden State Killer case. According to long-standing legal precedent, police typically do not need a warrant to obtain evidence from garbage that has been left on the curb. So far, courts have ruled that the same holds true for the DNA in that trash

How Tribal Nations Are Reclaiming Oklahoma

The New Yorker • 5 Aug 2024 • ~5200 words

Following the thread of US legal complexity, this article in The New Yorker explores the ongoing evolution of tribal sovereignty in Oklahoma following a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2020. This ruling restored nearly half of Oklahoma as tribal territory and empowered tribal nations like the Cherokee to assert greater authority over criminal justice, taxation, and other areas within their lands. However, the ruling has faced fierce opposition from Oklahoma's governor, who views it as an attack on state authority. I think the quote below summarizes how weirdly complicated these legal battles will get.

As Governor Stitt explored avenues to chip away at tribal sovereignty, his brother hired a lawyer and contested his ticket, claiming that, as he was a tribal citizen, the city of Tulsa had no jurisdiction over him. The case is currently in front of the state’s highest court. Everyone I spoke with in Oklahoma seemed mystified by the situation: one brother trying to overturn McGirt, the other using it as the basis for a protracted legal crusade to challenge a speeding ticket. Some people in tribal leadership speculated that Keith’s legal battle was part of his brother’s attempt to undermine McGirt, either through bad press or by provoking a court decision unfavorable to the tribes. It’s not inconceivable that Keith’s case could eventually be taken up by the Supreme Court.

Sacred, Perilous Movement: On Breaking

Cleveland Review of Books • 1 Aug 2024 • ~3800 words

With this article, John Waller explores the origins and evolution of breaking, connecting the dance to historical and cultural narratives that shape its identity. As breaking is now included in the Olympic games, he reflects on how this art form, emerging from the struggles and resilience of Black communities, serves as a powerful medium for expression and resistance.

The original dance of hip-hop is not what is conveniently sold as “hip-hop dance” in corny studios looking to spice up uninspired choreo, nor is it the worm or robot or whatever other caricature the media has proliferated. It is a philosophy etched in movement, one that confronts how one might find grace when its very possibility seems precluded.

How Thousands of Middlemen Are Gaming the H-1B Program

Bloomberg.com • 31 Jul 2024 • ~4400 words

US immigration is a big business. This Bloomberg analysis reveals how the H-1B visa program, intended to attract skilled workers, is being manipulated by outsourcing firms. With thousands of visas funneled to middlemen who exploit the system, the original goal of connecting talented individuals with American companies is increasingly undermined. Read more to learn how the government has tried to crack down on this abuse, but the firms keep finding new ways to game the system, and there have been few consequences for the companies involved.

Bloomberg estimates that roughly 15,500 visas — about one out of every six awarded last year — were obtained by gaming the lottery in this way. Over a four-year period, one staffing firm operator used a dozen companies to enter the same applicants as many as 15 times, securing hundreds of H-1Bs while others lost out.

From The Archives

Fault Lines

The Atavist Magazine • 22 Aug 2022 • ~16500 words

Last Friday, we recommended an article from Intelligencer about the arrest of a teacher at the prestigious private school Saint Ann's in Brooklyn, charged with preying on students. This excellent article from 2022 is a good follow-up read.

In this chilling exploration of the darker side of a celebrated humanities program in Los Angeles, Seyward Darby uncovers a troubling culture of abuse that persisted behind its academic success. This won’t be an easy read for parents, but It’s incredibly written and researched. It reflects broader societal issues around the grooming and exploitation of teenagers, as well as the challenges survivors face in coming forward with historical abuse allegations.

If you like this article, please consider subscribing to The Atavist. They consistently publish high-quality articles like this one.

Miller said he loved her. Jackie wanted to believe him. It would be more than two decades before she learned that she wasn’t the only student Miller pursued—and that Miller wasn’t the only Core teacher who allegedly targeted students for abuse.