It’s Friday, March 27. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. If you missed TGIF, catch it here. (Nellie is in rare form.) Today: Tony Blair on the West’s antisemitism blind spot. Matti Friedman on the Jewish volunteers who parachuted back into Nazi-occupied Europe. Jean Twenge wonders: Where did all the bisexual women go? Gabe Kaminsky speaks to the CEO whose Trump pardon didn’t cost him a cent. And much more.
But first: when Ozempic is bad for the soul.
There are scientific miracles—and then there’s Ozempic. It curbs appetites, of course, which can lead to significant weight loss, and eliminate obesity for many people. It’s also been found to reduce alcohol consumption and to cause people to cut down—or cut out—smoking. Not to mention that it may be helpful for treating drug addiction and even compulsive shopping.
But we’re also starting to understand that, for some Ozempic users, it has some not-so-pleasant side effects. As Evan Gardner reports in today’s lead story, one such possible side effect is an overwhelming lethargy, even depression. One Ozempic user told Evan that the emotional impact of the drug was almost unbearable. “I just feel worthless,” she told him. Others have lost their sex drive, their desire to be around other people, or the motivation they always had at work. Patients who suffer these effects face a difficult choice: to stay on a drug that allows them to gain control over their appetite and their weight, or get off it because of the way it affects their mental health. Evan talks to the Ozempic users who have lost their hunger—for everything.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair is all too familiar with the ritualistic condemnations of antisemitism from his fellow politicians. “I have no doubt they mean what they say,” Blair writes. “But their words haven’t stopped the attacks” against Jews. Instead, Blair argues, they should start going after the “ ‘unholy alliance’ between parts of the left and Islamists in our own societies whose ideology leads inexorably to antisemitism.”
From 2014 to 2022, the number of American young adults identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual nearly tripled—largely fueled by a rise in young women identifying as bisexual. Now, according to new data from social scientist Jean Twenge, the trend has flipped on its head: As of last month, the number of young women identifying as bisexual has plummeted by 5 percentage points. But is it just a question of identification, or is something else happening? Twenge takes us inside her research to explain what changed—and why.
AI slop videos just met their maker. This week, OpenAI scrapped its text-to-video model Sora. To some, this was the latest sign that the company has lost its way. But Tyler Cowen suggests Sam Altman and co. are close to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). In other words: fewer AI clips of dancing pets, more AI that does your job for you—or takes your job away. Tyler explains why you’re probably not ready for what comes next.
What does it take to land a Donald Trump pardon? For some, it’s donations, connections, or a well-timed encounter at a UFC match. But the pardon of Terren Peizer is different; his was a case in which the pardon had genuine merit. Peizer called it “obvious lawfare” by the Joe Biden administration—and the record bears that out. Gabe Kaminsky spoke with him about his arrest and conviction, and the reversal that followed.
In an exclusive excerpt from his new book, "Out of the Sky," Matti Friedman uncovers the lives of 32 Jewish volunteers from Mandatory Palestine who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe in 1944, including Haim Hermesh, who rescued Jews hiding in the forests of Yugoslavia. “This is a person suspended between a British airplane and a continent occupied by Nazis,” Friedman writes. “His old country is gone and his new one is still nonexistent.”
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EDITORS’ PICKS
It’s been a busy week in our newsroom. If you’re still catching up, start with one of these not-to-be-missed Free Press investigations.
First, Olivia Reingold’s probe of Chicago’s perplexing “Peacekeepers” program, part of a billion-dollar crime-fighting experiment, which pays ex-gang members a weekly stipend to keep their neighbors out of trouble. Today, a growing chorus of city leaders, law enforcement officials, and even one donor are saying it doesn’t work. Read Olivia’s investigation into the program, and watch her video report here.
Next up, the latest in Tanya Lukyanova’s Epstein files investigation. Earlier this month, Tanya spoke with Liza Grinenko, who was nearly recruited into Epstein’s web by his assistant Svetlana “Lana” Pozhidaeva. Soon after, Pozhidaeva received a sympathetic profile in The Wall Street Journal—which caused Tanya to dig deeper into Pozhidaeva’s story. Was she a victim—or an enabler? After Pozhidaeva DMed Tanya and said she wanted to talk, things got interesting.
Finally, don’t miss Jay Solomon’s investigation into the curious case of 21-year-old Calla Walsh, the progressive activist who once campaigned for Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. Her life today looks a little different: Walsh is now living in a Hezbollah-controlled neighborhood of Beirut, making pro-Iran propaganda—and she’s on a U.S. government watch list. This is a tale of our times.
The ongoing war in Iran continued to grab headlines this week, but there was one part of the narrative conspicuously missing: What is Iran’s real reason for waging war? Yardena Schwartz argues that for the Islamic Republic, this is a holy war—one aimed at preserving Islam as a colonizing force, overthrowing Israel, and bringing the entire Middle East under Islamic rule.
If you want a break from the war news this weekend, we get it. But before you start your digital detox, read Niall Ferguson’s latest essay on why Iran’s choking of the global energy supply is worth your attention. Niall warns us: History shows that oil shocks like the one we’re currently experiencing almost always bring about a major financial downturn.
Meanwhile, our Coleman Hughes debated one of the most hard-line critics of Israel in the public sphere: independent journalist Glenn Greenwald. Watch their debate here, and be sure to read Coleman’s essay debunking one of the most pervasive myths of our time: that an all-powerful Israel lobby effectively controls American foreign policy.
And in case you missed them, read James Kirchick’s piece on the designer-clad far-left influencers posing for photo ops in Cuba, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s nephew on why he has a bone to pick with today’s protesters.
The Front Page will be back on Monday morning. Until then, look out for The Weekend Press—featuring a deeply personal, darkly funny essay from an 84-year-old Canadian woman who refused assisted suicide after a spinal injury, made a full recovery, and took a trip to Cuba.
Evan Gardener’s piece on GLP-1s is a worthless read. Worse than fluff. It cites one clinical trial that directly contradicts his thesis. Instead he refers to surveys and rumors and a couple of anecdotes. If you take or plan to take a GLP-1, or you don’t, please don’t waste your time on this article.
New thing bad