The Church of Scientology's exalted membership
Despite its claims of having 8 million members, only about 25,000 Americans say they belong to the Church of Scientology. The FBI is now investigating claims that some members of the church’s elite Sea Org group are held against their will and forced to work for little or no pay.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Number of escapees from Egyptian jails: 17,000
More than 17,000 prisoners escaped from Egyptian jails during the revolution, as police simply abandoned their posts. Among the escapees, say Egyptian officials, are several “senior jihadists” and dozens of members of al Qaida and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
The Washington Times
Let's hope NASA's right about Apophis
Russian scientists are warning that a 25-million-ton asteroid called Apophis might crash into the Earth on April 13, 2036, causing giant tsunamis, global chaos, and the death of tens of millions of people. Not to worry: NASA scientists say their calculations indicate that Apophis’s path will be a near miss, with its chances of hitting the Earth at 250,000 to 1.
Space.com
A partisan take on sex scandals
An analysis of 20 years of politicians’ sex scandals reveals that Republicans have slightly more of them—34 since 1990, compared with 27 for Democrats. Republicans have had more scandals that involved prostitutes, politicians claiming to stand for “family values,” and underage boys; Democrats’ scandals are more likely to involve female staffers, sexual harassment, and underage girls.
TheDailyBeast.com
-
How will the new Repayment Assistance Plan for student loans work?the explainer The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) will replace existing income-driven repayment plans
-
In the Spotlight Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been at odds with US forces
-
Music reviews: Ethel Cain, Amaarae, and The Black KeysFeature "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You," "Black Star," and "No Rain, No Flowers"
-
Very rich and very poor in California, and morefeature California is home to 111 billionaires, yet it also suffers the highest poverty rate in the country.
-
Arctic cold kills tree insects, and more
feature This winter’s arctic temperatures have had at least one beneficial impact: They’ve killed ash borers, gypsy moths, and other tree-eating insects.
-
Congress's poor record, and more
feature The 113th Congress is on course to pass less legislation than any Congress in history.
-
Gender differences in employment, and more
feature
-
A first for West Point, and more
feature For the first time, two male graduates of West Point were married at the military academy’s chapel.
-
A God given land?, and more
feature More white evangelical Protestants than U.S Jews believe that Israel was “given to the Jewish people by God.”
-
Jailing the mentally ill, and more
feature American prisons have replaced state mental hospitals as a place to warehouse the mentally ill.
-
Treating Internet addiction, and more
feature Treating Internet addiction; Freshman virgins at Harvard; A salary handicap for lefties; Prices for vintage automobiles soar; Gun permits for blind people