C M Y K Yxxx,2019-12-08,A,001,Bs-4C,E1

VOL. CLXIX . . . . No. 58,535 © 2019 The New York Times Company SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019

LYNSEY ADDARIO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The right to die helped Marieke Vervoort live her life. It drove her to become a Paralympics champion. But she could never get away from the pain.

SPECIAL REPORT, SECTION F

EMBRACING THE END

OCT. 22, 2019 Marieke Vervoort, 40, with her parents, Odette Pauwels and Jos Vervoort, in her bedroom in Diest, Belgium.

When Kate’s 13-year-old sontook up Minecraft and Fortnite,she did not worry.

The video games were hardlyGrand Theft Auto — banned intheir home because it was too vio-lent — and he played in a room

where she could keep an eye onhim.

But about six weeks later, Katesaw something appalling pop upon the screen: a video of bestialityinvolving a young boy. Horrified,she scrolled through her son’s ac-count on Discord, a platformwhere gamers can chat whileplaying. The conversations werefilled with graphic language andimagery of sexual acts posted byothers, she said.

Her son broke into tears whenshe questioned him last month.

“I think it’s a huge weight offthem for somebody to step in andsay, ‘Actually this is child abuse,and you’re being abused andyou’re a victim here,’” said Kate,who asked not to be identified byher full name to protect her fam-ily’s privacy.

Sexual predators and other badactors have found an easy accesspoint into the lives of young peo-ple: They are meeting them onlinethrough multiplayer video gamesand chat apps, making virtualconnections right in their victims’homes.

The criminals strike up a con-

versation and gradually buildtrust. Often they pose as children,confiding in their victims withfalse stories of hardship or self-loathing. Their goal, typically, is todupe children into sharing sexu-ally explicit photos and videos ofthemselves — which they use asblackmail for more imagery, muchof it increasingly graphic and vio-lent.

Reports of abuse are emergingwith unprecedented frequencyaround the country, with someperpetrators grooming hundredsand even thousands of victims, ac-cording to a review of prosecu-tions, court records, law enforce-ment reports and academic stud-ies. Games are a common target,but predators are also findingmany victims on platforms like In-

While They Play Online,Children May Be the Prey

Predators Using Gifts and Game CurrencyTrap Minors in ‘Sextortion’ Schemes

By NELLIE BOWLES and MICHAEL H. KELLER

EXPLOITED

Virtual ‘Hunting Grounds’

DreamHack, a video game for-um in Atlanta, drew 35,000.

KHOLOOD EID FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page 24

COLORADO SPRINGS — Biol-ogy textbooks used in Americanhigh schools do not go near thesensitive question of whether ge-netics can explain why African-Americans are overrepresentedas football players and why a dis-proportionate number of Ameri-can scientists are white or Asian.

But in a study starting thismonth, a group of biology teach-ers from across the country willaddress it head-on. They are test-ing the idea that the science class-room may be the best place to pro-vide a buffer against the unfound-ed genetic rationales for humandifference that often become thebasis for racial intolerance.

At a recent training in Colorado,the dozen teachers who had vol-unteered to participate in the ex-periment acknowledged the chal-lenges of inserting the com-bustible topic of race and ancestryinto straightforward lessons onthe 19th-century pea-breeding ex-periments of Gregor Mendel andthe basic function of the strands ofDNA coiled in every cell.

The new approach represents amajor deviation from the usualschool genetics fare, which de-votes little time to the extent of ge-netic differences across humanpopulations, or how traits in everyspecies are shaped by a complexmix of genes and environment.

It also challenges a prevailingbelief among science educatorsthat questions about race are bestleft to their counterparts in socialstudies.

The history of today’s racial cat-egories arose long before the fieldof genetics and have been used tojustify all manner of discrimina-tory policies. Race, a social con-

Science ClassDefies RacismWith Genetics

By AMY HARMON

Continued on Page 22

MASON CITY, Iowa — Withjust under two months until theIowa caucuses, the already vola-tile Democratic presidential racehas grown even more unsettled,setting the stage for a marathonnominating contest between theparty’s moderate and liberal fac-tions.

Pete Buttigieg’s surge, BernieSanders’s revival, Elizabeth War-ren’s struggles and the exit of Ka-mala Harris have upended the pri-mary and, along with Joseph R.Biden’s Jr. enduring strength withnonwhite voters, increased thepossibility of a split decision afterthe early nominating states.

That’s when Michael R. Bloom-berg aims to burst into the contest— after saturating the airwaves ofthe Super Tuesday states withtens of millions of dollars of televi-sion ads.

With no true front-runner andthree other candidates besidesMr. Bloomberg armed with warchests of over $20 million, Demo-crats are confronting the prospectof a drawn-out primary reminis-cent of the epic Clinton-Obamacontest in 2008.

“There’s a real possibility Petewins here, Warren takes NewHampshire, Biden South Carolinaand who knows about Nevada,”said Sue Dvorsky, a former IowaDemocratic chair. “Then you gointo Super Tuesday with Bloom-berg throwing $30 million out ofhis couch cushions and this is go-ing to go for a while.”

That’s a worrisome prospect fora party already anxious aboutwhether it has a candidate strongenough to defeat President Trumpnext November. The contendershave recently begun to attack oneanother more forcefully — Ms.

As Rivals Jostle,Democrats Face

A Primary SlogBy JONATHAN MARTIN

Continued on Page 19

SHIREBROOK, England —There used to be a mine at theedge of this small town near thecenter of England. Now there isonly a warehouse.

The mine provided coal thatpowered the country. The ware-house stores tracksuits.

The mine meant a job for life.The warehouse offers mostly tem-porary work for the lowest legalwage.

You work here, one worker toldme in the drizzly parking lot lastmonth, and you get treated like amonkey.

Shirebrook was the third stop ofa 900-mile journey I madethrough Britain last month. I wastrying to make sense of a splin-tered country in the run-up to theDec. 12 general election. The out-

side world typically sees Britainthrough the affluence and cos-mopolitanism of London, butother than one quick stop there, Iwent elsewhere, looking for peo-ple beyond the capital’s glare.

Everywhere I went, it felt as ifthe country were coming un-bound. For all sorts of reasons, allsorts of people — Leavers and Re-mainers; blue- and white-collar;Jews and Muslims; English,Northern Irish, Scottish andWelsh — felt alienated and un-moored.

At times, I was reminded thatelectoral politics are far removedfrom many people’s priorities,

which range from simply makinga living to fighting global warm-ing. “There’s no Brexit on a deadplanet,” said Lauren McDonald, aGlasgow student who recentlyquit college to mobilize against cli-mate change.

Again and again, though, peoplecame back to the politics of nation-alism, austerity and economicalienation. And in Shirebrook andbeyond, the frustrations wererooted in Brexit.

Since the surrounding constitu-ency was formed in 1950, itsmostly working-class residentshave always elected a Labour law-maker.

Then came the 2016 Brexit ref-erendum, in which seven in 10 lo-cal voters supported Britain’s de-parture from the European Union.Many are now furious that the

A Brexit Road Trip, With Disunity at Every StopBy PATRICK KINGSLEY

Shirebrook, England, a former mining town where seven in 10 voted to leave the European Union.LAETITIA VANCON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

THE ROOTS OF ITALY’S RAGE

The far right’s rise is tied to ireover migrants, but China lit thefuse long ago. Sunday Business.

Continued on Page 10

The famous pasta-making women ofBari, Italy, are worried about a crack-down on contraband orecchiette. PAGE 6

INTERNATIONAL 4-13

A Forbidden FlavorSeventy-two years later, David Wisniawondered if Helen Spitzer was thereason he was alive. PAGE 30

NEW YORK 30-31

Lovers in Auschwitz, Reunited

A pension strike in France has givennew energy to long-running protestsagainst the government. PAGE 8

Weekend of Discontent

A state auditor is not generally consid-ered to be a political kingmaker, butRob Sand has become something of anoracle for Democratic candidates tryingto crack the Iowa code. PAGE 14

NATIONAL 14-25

Iowa’s Democrat Whisperer

For patients whose dementia is com-pounded by depression, psychotherapythat reinforces positive thoughts couldbe a safer alternative to drugs. PAGE 18

Prescribing Positivity

Languishing legislation is frustratingsenators of both parties as the clockticks down on their session. PAGE 21

Doldrums in the Senate

Larry Page and Sergey Brin had beenslowly stepping away from the messybusiness of running the company theystarted 21 years ago. Last week, theymade it official. PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

The Exit of Google’s Founders

An illustrated take on what 16 profes-sionals — from doormen and nannies tobarbers — received from customersduring the holidays. Let your con-science be your guide. PAGE 3

Let the Tipping Begin (or Not)

Maureen Dowd PAGE 9

SUNDAY REVIEW

Times critics list the cream of the crop.

ARTS & LEISURE

The Best of 2019

As interest in the game wanes acrossthe country, driven by demographicsand worries about brain injuries, asmall Ohio town has found a way tofield a playoff-bound team. PAGE 1

SPORTSSUNDAY

Where Football Is Thriving

Fay Vincent, the former baseball com-missioner, relates the lessons helearned in recovering from a brokenback as a teenager. PAGE 5

Awful Injury, Wonderful Gift

U(DF47D3)W+[!}!/!#!;

WASHINGTON — Far fromany television camera and a halfworld away from Ukraine, a fewdozen Democratic staff aides, law-yers and House members aregrinding away this weekend in aloose clump of Capitol Hill offices,the beating heart of the impeach-ment operation against PresidentTrump.

In cramped spaces in the Ray-burn and Longworth House OfficeBuildings, the final articles of im-peachment are being incubated inthe shadow of the Capitol dome. Itis a frantic backstage tableau ofWashington anthropology, popu-lated by Judiciary and Intelli-gence Committee aides, Housemembers and counsels hunchedover computer screens and yellowlegal pads.

History can get cluttered some-times. Rooms are littered withempty soda cans, pie left overfrom Thanksgiving and boxespulled from shelves containingfiles from past impeachments.There are recurrent calls from theback-room authors for tech sup-port, caffeine, antacids and blan-kets, because the rooms can getcold, like the pizza. With so muchgrand talk about “constitutionalduties” and “respecting thefounders” and “honoring oaths,”there is also the workday.

Norman L. Eisen, the Demo-crats’ special oversight counsel onthe Judiciary Committee, is con-sulting through the weekend witha procession of staff and lawmak-ers, while Representative JerroldNadler, Democrat of New Yorkand the Judiciary Committeechairman, has been shuttling inrecent days between work spacesand the Capitol offices of Speaker

Impeach Prep:Legal MinutiaeAnd Cold Pizza

By MARK LEIBOVICHand NICHOLAS FANDOS

Continued on Page 21

Printed in Chicago $6.00

Mostly cloudy. Passing afternoonshowers north and west. Milder.Highs in 40s to middle 50s. Rain anddrizzle tonight. Lows in 30s to lower50s. Weather map is on Page 26.

National Edition