Now with over 400 different retreats available through their marketplace, Activ Retreats has become a growing hub for wellness and adventure holidays.
Los Gatos, California, July 24, 2023, Activ Retreats is expanding into new areas in the wellness and adventure holidays sector. This expansion is a testament to the increasing demand they are seeing in the health and wellness segment for new types of retreats and active adventures. Activ Retreats is a global adventure and wellness travel company with an eye on serving active travelers looking to marry their passion for travel, sports, and wellness into one ideal holiday.
Their new offerings complement the company’s existing array of holidays which include running, cycling, hiking, fitness, horse riding, surfing rafting, martial arts and rock-climbing retreats and getaways. According to an Accenture Study, Wellness travel is here to stay and 39% of high-income consumers say they already have a luxury trip or wellness retreat booked in 2023.
The number of people taking wellness trips is only likely to increase in the coming years. Activ Retreats is determined to help the industry evolve and grow, with an expanded set of offerings that appeal to a whole new set of active travelers.
During a recent interview, Activ’s founder, Sarah Morey, made these comments, “Wellness travel is starting to evolve. It started with yoga. But it has turned into something more. It’s about being able to infuse yoga and wellness with other passions like martial arts, diving, or SUP. I see this as the path forward for wellness travel and we are excited to make these types of trips more accessible to more people across the globe.”
Customer Testimonials always tell the story, here is what Sarah K. of Toronto, Ontario had to say, “I absolutely love this site. It brings together all these amazing active adventures and retreats that would normally take me hours to find. I was looking for a cycling trip for a group of friends. The site makes finding and booking incredibly easy. I’ll definitely be back for more.”
About Activ Retreats:
Activ Retreats was founded by a couple of moms and avid travelers. Together they have had the opportunity to venture to 50+ countries and live in ten. They have hiked in Ecuador, surfed in San Diego and skied in Hokkaido, Japan. They have been diving in Mexico, cycled through Vietnam and been running through the Cairns of Scotland. They can’t imagine a better way to see the world.
They created Activ Retreats to allow others to marry their passion for sustainable travel & adventure with health and wellness. They believe that travel should leave one feeling refreshed and revitalized. It should nurture one’s body, mind, and soul. And it should allow the traveler to gain a newfound appreciation for this planet. Activ retreats does all of this. Their retreats allow travelers to immerse themselves in the local culture and cuisine, enjoy the company of great people and expert guides, fuel their passion for outdoor adventure and see the world in a whole new way.
It was 20 minutes into my first Swedish sailing trip on a blazingly sunny morning in late June. I’d set sail with two friends from their summer house on Kilholmen, a wooded islet in the central archipelago, about an hour by bus (then a five-minute boat ride) from Stockholm. After motoring through a narrow waterway, past smooth, rounded cliffs backed by pine forests and the occasional red timbered cottage, we entered a wide-open bay, steered the bow into the wind and raised the sails. When the puttering motor was cut, it was suddenly quiet, just the wind in my face and the sparkling archipelago all around.
The sheer magnitude of Stockholm’s archipelago is astounding. Shaped like a fan spreading out from the capital into the Baltic Sea, this watery region spans over 650 square miles — more than twice the area of New York City’s five boroughs — with somewhere between 24,000 and 30,000 islands and islets.
“The innermost islands are quite big and populated,” said Jeppe Wikström, a photographer and book publisher who has lived and worked in the archipelago for decades. “The farther out you go, the smaller the islands get, the lower they get. And in the outermost archipelago, there are only low slabs of rock.”
In Swedish, there’s a specific term for each archipelago landmass, from the large islands covered with pine trees and stately 19th-century summer houses to tiny islets with nothing but a few shrubs and lichen.
“I could probably give you 30 different words for an island and most of us would know what the island looks like because of that name,” Mr. Wikström said. “Skär, kobbe, haru, ö — it’s like the Inuits and snow.”
For Swedes, the archipelago is a quintessential summer destination that has often served as the backdrop for movies and television shows, from Ingmar Bergman’s film “Summer with Monika” to Astrid Lindgren’s children’s series “Vi på Saltkråkan” (“Seacrow Island”). But few foreign visitors find their way to these idyllic isles.
“It’s a cliché, the hidden gem, but those are 24,000 hidden gems,” Mr. Wikström said. “It’s jewelry stores of hidden gems.”
Many of those natural treasures are accessible by ferry, bus or car. But the vast majority can be reached only by motorboat or sailboat, which one can rent with or without a skipper.
For me, the decision whether to travel by engine or sail was easy.
“This is probably the most extraordinary place for sailing in the world,” Mr. Wikström said. “The variety of the landscape, the right to public access, the lack of strong winds and tidal currents makes it wonderful.”
It’s also an eco-conscious choice, relying solely on the wind for power.
“You are one with nature when you go sailing,” said Patrik Salén, the commodore of the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, a 193-year-old organization based in the archipelago. “It’s the wind, it’s the water and it’s your boat.”
Or it’s your friend’s boat.
Sailing upwind
My friendship with Viola Gad, a journalist for Sveriges Radio, began several years ago at a creative co-working space in Stockholm. In June, she and her husband, Henke Evrell, invited me aboard their sailboat: a 33-foot Smaragd, a lithe Swedish racing boat designed in 1973 and constructed in Sweden through the mid-1990s. The boat has been aptly described as “built for energetic sailors.” Their rambunctious 2-year-old, John, was also along for the adventure.
The goal for our first day on the water was to push as far out into the archipelago as possible, sailing upwind in the direction of Biskopsön, a nature reserve in the outer islands. Zigzagging back and forth across a wide bay, Henke was in constant motion, adjusting a pulley, letting out a rope, tightening a sail and consulting the sea chart to ensure the route was clear of underwater rocks — an ever-present danger in the archipelago. A seasoned sailor with years of racing experience, he confidently steered Bird — the same name Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law’s character) christened his boat in the movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” — to overtake larger sailboats with ease.
Meanwhile, with John sleeping in the bow, Viola peeled tiny Baltic shrimp for a snack piled on Swedish crispbread with mayonnaise and dollops of salty roe. Passing a modern glass-walled mansion on its own tiny island, we traded guesses as to which start-up founder was the likely owner.
It was late afternoon when we finally moored in a natural harbor on the islet of Tistronskär, where Viola leaped onto a barren cliff to pull in the boat, which was then tied to metal hooks hammered into cracks in the rock face. Once ashore, the whole sweaty crew decided to take a dip in the refreshingly chilly sea, wading through sea grass and slippery moss-covered stones to reach the cool, clear depths beyond.
Dinner was a bit of a fiasco — I broke a bottle of pinot noir on the rocks, someone else smashed a glass, John rolled a head of lettuce into the water — but afterward, sitting on the smooth, sun-warmed cliff we watched a chestnut-colored mink dive into the sea as an Arctic tern gracefully circled overhead. The nearest island was wooded, with a small house and a dock visible through the pines, but in the distance, the horizon was interrupted only by low humps of rock.
“See, the sea and sky blurred,” Henke said after the sun set at 10 p.m., dusk erasing any distinction between the two.
I’d long thought of sailing as something only other people did — wealthy people, to be honest — but in Sweden, that’s not necessarily the case. Allemansrätten, the Swedish right to public access, means that everyone has the right to roam — and moor — on any land or island, no matter who owns it.
“It’s very egalitarian,” Henke said. “Anyone can come to an island like this if you have a boat. And you don’t have to have a big boat. It’s even better if you have a small boat because the smaller the boat you have, the better access you have.”
“It’s like you have this island for the night, and it’s just yours,” Viola added.
That said, not everyone has a friend with whom to sail or the means (or desire) to rent a boat to experience the archipelago. But alternatives exist.
“If you’re not an experienced sailor, I would recommend starting on one of those wonderful archipelago ferries,” Jeppe Wikström told me earlier. “And it’s possible to do even if you’re in a wheelchair, so it makes the archipelago really accessible.”
Before sailing, I’d only explored the archipelago by ferry, taking day trips to the Artipelag art museum, or to a beach on the island of Grinda to escape my sweltering Stockholm apartment.
But a daytrip to the archipelago is like dipping only a toe into the sea.
My first overnight visit was to the island of Svartsö in the northern archipelago. I’d long known about a seasonal restaurant there, Svartsö Krog, because the owners also run one of my favorite restaurants, Matateljen, in the suburbs of Stockholm. These days, the property also has a glamping operation, Svartsö Logi, with five canvas tents clustered on a wooded hillside beside the water. Reserving a tent usually requires advance planning; this year, the entire season sold out the same day bookings opened in February. But cancellations are announced on Instagram and that’s how I snagged one the first time I went two summers ago (this year it costs 5,200 Swedish kronor, or about $500, which includes dinner for two at Svartsö Krog and a morning breakfast basket).
On that trip, my husband, Dave, and I packed a bag and biked to the quay in front of the Grand Hotel in Stockholm where the Waxholmsbolaget ferries depart for the archipelago. The crowded ferry thinned out after Vaxholm, a popular destination for day trips with its colorful town center and 16th-century fortress. As we approached Svartsö, the islands we cruised past became smaller, with fewer cottages, occasionally just a solitary cabin on its own islet surrounded by a few knobby pine trees.
On the island, we spent an entire day biking along gravel roads, picking wild blueberries in a mossy forest, plunging into a tranquil lake and enjoying a leisurely dinner on the deck at Svartsö Krog. Then we crawled into a cozy tent with a comfy bed and sheepskin rugs, and fell asleep to the sound of water gently lapping against boats docked at the nearby pier.
Glamping, like sailing, is an appealing compromise for those who long to be near nature without forfeiting a bed. But there are myriad lodging options for a longer stay in the archipelago, from bare-bones camping sites and rental cabins to hostels and full-service hotels.
Many of the properties belong to Skärgårdsstiftelsen, the Archipelago Foundation, a non-profit organization that owns some 42 square miles of land — about 12 percent of the land in the archipelago — as well as 2,000 properties, ranging from hotels, restaurants and hostels to farms, lighthouses, cottages and saunas. The foundation was created in the 1950s to preserve public access to land and water for future generations.
“People understood that all the land in the archipelago would eventually be bought to build summer houses out there,” said Ulrika Palmblad-Wennergren, the head of communications for Skärgårdsstiftelsen, which also maintains recreational areas for outdoor activities, from hiking and swimming to snorkeling, sailing, and more.
Let the wind decide
With so many islands, so many things to do and see, the hard part is often deciding. And on a sailboat, we could go anywhere.
“It’s like the feeling of getting on the highway,” said Viola, as we sipped tea at twilight, discussing where we might sail the next morning. “Your sails are up and the opportunities are endless.”
When it was time to start heading back to Stockholm with Viola and Henke, we let the wind dictate our course and wound up stopping for lunch and ice cream on Kymmendö, a small island that served as inspiration for the novel “Hemsöborna,” by the celebrated Swedish author August Strindberg. Then we set sail for home.
This time, with the wind at our back, Henke unfurled a royal-blue spinnaker, a lightweight three-cornered sail perfect for the present wind conditions. While Viola and John napped below, he instructed me where to steer and nimbly hoisted the spinnaker and adjusted the ropes and when the wind caught the sail — what a thrill! — it filled like a giant parachute flying through the archipelago.
Just as I had been awed by the passing nature while standing on the stern of a ferry chugging slowly toward Svartsö, I was again enraptured by the ever-changing scene: a sea gull sitting on an islet that was nothing more than a small rock, a narrow bay framed by sloping cliffs, a rocky peninsula covered with tiny yellow flowers, a small red cottage on an island all its own.
“It’s not just where you’re going, it’s the journey there,” Henke said.
It’s also the journey back, I thought, as we made our way through this stunning archipelago.
If you go
For sailboat rentals and skippered excursions, the Archipelago Foundation has a list of operators on its website. You can expect to spend from around 1,500 kronor (about $145) per day for a small four-person sailboat to about 10,000 kronor for a skippered yacht that can accommodate eight people.
Waxholmsbolaget ferries depart from Strömkajen in central Stockholm. (Fares range from 57 to 173 kronor one-way, depending on the destination.) There are also departures from locations outside the city center that can be reached by car or public transportation.
Cinderellabåtarna (Cinderella boats) are often faster, but more expensive, from 165 to 210 kronor one-way. These ferries depart from Strandvägen in central Stockholm.
When deciding where to go by ferry, Jeppe Wikström recommends Sandhamn with its charming town center and sandy beaches, Bullerö for beautiful nature walks and the lighthouse on Landsort, the archipelago’s southern tip. Ulrika Palmblad-Wennergren suggests Nåttarö and Utö, larger islands with loads of activities. When sailing, Viola Gad and Henke Evrell prefer the remote islands of the outer archipelago, from Stora Nassa in the north to Huvudskär and Borgen in the south.
On Svartsö, hope for a cancellation at Svartsö Logi, or stay elsewhere and stop by for lunch at Svartsö Krog, which is open daily through mid-August and on weekends through the end of September. (Lunch for two, about 1,200 kronor, not including drinks.)
Open daily through mid-August, Båtshaket is the archipelago outpost of the Stockholm restaurateurs Jim & Jacob, where house-smoked seafood and fresh grilled fish are served on a wooden deck beside the sea (lunch for two, about 600 kronor). It’s located on Ålö, an islet near Utö, a large island in the southern archipelago that’s home to Utö Bakgård, one of the best bakeries in the archipelago (open daily through mid-August, then reduced hours; lunch for two, about 300 kronor).
The Archipelago Foundation’s website is a good place to find cottages and cabins to rent, guest harbors to moor for the night, as well as hotels, hostels, camping sites, restaurants, shops and activities.
Last week, Representative Matt Gaetz and his wife, Ginger, arrived at a Washington reception for “Barbie” in matching pink, grinning in photos along the “pink carpet,” mingling among guests sipping pink cocktails, admiring a life-size pink toy box.
They left with political ammunition.
“The Barbie I grew up with was a representation of limitless possibilities, embracing diverse careers and feminine empowerment,” Mrs. Gaetz wrote on Twitter. “The 2023 Barbie movie, unfortunately, neglects to address any notion of faith or family, and tries to normalize the idea that men and women can’t collaborate positively (yuck).”
When another account scolded Mr. Gaetz, the hard-right and perpetually stunt-seeking Florida congressman, for attending the event at all — citing the casting of a trans actor as a doctor Barbie — Mr. Gaetz replied with a culture-warring double feature.
“If you let the trans stop you from seeing Margo Robbie,” he said, leaving the “T” off the first name of the film’s star, “the terrorists win.”
The non-terroristic winners were many after the film’s estimated $155 million debut: Ms. Robbie and Greta Gerwig, the film’s director, finding an eager audience for their pink-hued feminist opus; the Warner Bros. marketing team, whose ubiquitous campaigns plainly paid off; the film industry itself, riding “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” to its most culturally dominant weekend in years.
But few outcomes were as nominally inexplicable (and probably inevitable) as the film’s instant utility to political actors and opportunists of all kinds. For a modern take on what was long a politically fraught emblem of toxic body image and reductive social norms, no choice was too small, no turn too ideology-affirming or apparently nefarious, for a bipartisan coalition of commentators and elected officials to see value in its dissection.
“I have, like, pages and pages of notes,” Ben Shapiro, the popular conservative commentator, said in a lengthy video review, which began with him setting a doll aflame and did not grow more charitable. (He said his producers “dragged” him to the theater.)
“I took a tequila shot every time Barbie said patriarchy … only just woke up,” wrote Elon Musk. (Mr. Shapiro, diligently but less colorfully, said he had counted the word “more than 10 times.”)
“Here are 4 ways Barbie embraces California values,” the office of Gavin Newsom, the state’s Democratic governor, wrote in a thread hailing Barbie as a champion of climate activism, “hitting the roads in her electric vehicle,” and of destigmatizing mental health care.
If there was a time in the culture when a giant summer film event was something of an American unifier — a moment to share over-buttered popcorn through big-budget shoot-’em-ups and sagas of insatiable sharks — that time is not 2023.
And, as ever, the political class’s performative investment in “Barbie” — the outrage and the embrace — can seem mostly like a winking bit.
What to make of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat of Michigan, posting a Barbie meant to resemble herself beside the Instagram caption, “Come on Barbie, let’s go govern”?
What does it mean, exactly, when Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia, says of himself, “This Ken is pushing to end maternal mortality”?
Certainly, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, has summoned practiced gravity in accusing “Barbie” of working to appease the Chinese. (Some Republicans have fixated on a scene that features a crudely drawn map that supposedly depicts the so-called nine-dash line, which indicates Chinese ownership of oceanic territory that is disputed under international law. Vietnam has banned showings of the movie in the country over that image.)
“Obviously, the little girls that are going to see Barbie, none of them are going to have any idea what those dashes mean,” Mr. Cruz told Fox News. “This is really designed for the eyes of the Chinese censors, and they’re trying to kiss up to the Chinese Communist Party because they want to make money selling the movie.”
The response on the right is not a one-off. For a generation of conservative personalities, weaned on Andrew Breitbart’s much-cited observation that “politics is downstream of culture,” Hollywood and other ostensibly liberal bastions are to be confronted head-on, lest their leanings ensnare young voters without a fight.
Recent years have provided ample evidence, some on the right say, for a “go woke, go broke” view that progressivism is bad business. Last year’s apolitically patriotic “Top Gun: Maverick” was a smashing success, as was this year’s kid-friendly “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” By contrast, critics on the right contended that Disney’s remake of “The Little Mermaid,” with its title character portrayed by the Black actress Halle Bailey, failed to match its producers’ hopes. (Of course, there is no way to trace exactly what determines any movie’s success or failure, and many observers adhere to the screenwriter William Goldman’s axiom: “Nobody knows anything.”)
“Barbie” cannot be said to have gone broke. But its purported politics, conservatives have argued, did damage it by making it less entertaining — “a lecture,” in the words of The Federalist’s Rich Cromwell, “that self-identifies as a movie.”
Kyle Smith, a reviewer at The Wall Street Journal, complained that the film “contains more swipes at ‘the patriarchy’ than a year’s worth of Ms. magazine.”
The film seems at times (gentle spoiler alert) to be engaging with “the patriarchy” ironically, infusing it with knowing Southern California vapidity, décor that seems inspired by hair metal and a heavy emphasis on weight lifting and “brewskis.”
When it comes time (less gentle spoiler alert) to reclaim Barbie Land, the Barbies distract the Kens by indulging their tendency for exaggerated gestures of malehood like playing acoustic guitar and insisting on showing a date “The Godfather” while talking over it.
Mr. Shapiro has sounded unconvinced that the movie is broadly in on its own jokes.
“The actual argument the movie is making is that if women enjoy men, it’s because they have been brainwashed by the patriarchy,” he said in his review.
He called the film, with a straight face, two hours he will rue wasting as he sits on his deathbed.
Want to live up to an additional 24 years? Just add eight healthy lifestyle choices to your life at age 40 and that could happen, according to a new unpublished study analyzing data on US veterans.
Starting at age 50 instead? No problem, you could prolong your life by up to 21 years, the study found. Age 60? You’ll still gain nearly 18 years if you adopt all eight healthy habits.
“There’s a 20-year period in which you can make these changes, whether you do it gradually or all at once,“ said lead study author Xuan-Mai Nguyen, a health science specialist for the Million Veteran Program at the VA Boston Healthcare System.
“We also did an analysis to see if we eliminated people with type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, stroke, cancer and the like, does it change the outcome? And it really didn’t,” she said. “So, if you start off with chronic diseases, making changes does still help.”
What are these magical healthy habits? Nothing you haven’t heard before: Exercise, eat a healthy diet, reduce stress, sleep well and foster positive social relationships. On the flip side, don’t smoke, don’t drink too much and don’t become addicted to opioids.
“The earlier the better, but even if you only make a small change in your 40s, 50s or 60s, it still is beneficial,” Nguyen said. “This is not out of reach — this is actually something attainable for the general population.”
Lifestyle habits build on each other
The study, presented Monday at Nutrition 2023, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, looked at the lifestyle behaviors of nearly 720,000 military veterans between the ages of 40 and 99. All were part of the Million Veteran Program, a longitudinal study designed to investigate the health and wellness of US veterans.
Adding just one healthy behavior to a man’s life at age 40 provided an additional 4.5 years of life, Nguyen said. Adding a second led to seven more years, while adopting three habits prolonged life for men by 8.6 years. As the number of additional lifestyle changes climbed so did the benefits for men, adding up to nearly a quarter century of extra life.
Women saw huge leaps in life span as well, Nguyen said, although the numbers added up differently than for men. Adopting just one healthy behavior added 3.5 years to a woman’s life, while two added eight years, three 12.6 years and embracing all the healthy habits extended a woman’s life by 22.6 years.
“Doing all eight had a synergistic effect, sort of an added boost to extend your life, but any small change made a difference,” Nguyen said.
After adjusting for age, body mass index, sex, race and ethnicity, marital status, education level and family income level, the study found “an 87% relative reduction in all-cause mortality for those who adopted all eight lifestyle factors compared to those who adopted none,” Nguyen said.
“An important strength of this analysis was that the population was highly diverse by race, ethnicity, and SES (socioeconomic status),” said senior study author and leading nutrition researcher Dr. Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
The study could only show an association, not a direct cause and effect, and because it focused on veterans, the findings may not translate to all Americans. However, veterans in the study “were retired and not on active duty or attending military training,” Nguyen said. “Still, the numbers might not necessarily translate directly to a general population one-on-one.”
Ranking the lifestyle choices
The study was able to rank the eight lifestyle behaviors to see which provided the biggest boost in longevity.
No. 1: First on the list was exercise, which many experts say is one of the most important behaviors anyone can do to improve their health. Adding that one healthy behavior produced a 46% decrease in the risk of death from any cause when compared with those who did not exercise, Nguyen said.
“We looked at whether they did light, moderate or vigorous activity compared to not doing anything and just sitting on the couch,” Nguyen said. “People who lived longer did 7.5 metabolic equivalent hours of exercise a week. Just to give you a baseline — if you can walk up a flight of stairs without losing your breath, that’s four minutes of the 7.5.”
No. 2: Not becoming addicted to opioids was the second most important contributor to a longer life, reducing the risk of early death by 38%, the study found. That’s a significant issue today, with the opioid crisis in the US a national “public health emergency,” an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services reported.
No. 3: Never using tobacco reduced risk of death by 29%, the study found. If a person was a former smoker, that didn’t count: “We did that to make it as strict as we could,” Nguyen said. However, stopping smoking at any point in life confers major health benefits, experts say.
No. 4:Managing stress was next, reducing early death by 22%, the study found. Stress is rampant in the US today, with devastating consequences for health, experts say. And there are ways to revamp your outlook and turn bad stress into good stress.
No. 5: Eating a plant-based diet would raise your chances of living a longer life by 21%, the study found. But that doesn’t mean you have to be a vegetarian or vegan, Nguyen said. Following a healthy plant-based plan such as the Mediterranean diet full of whole grains and leafy green vegetables was key.
No. 6: Avoiding binge drinking — which is having more than four alcoholic beverages a day — was another healthy lifestyle habit, reducing the risk of death by 19%, Nguyen said. Binge drinking is on the rise in the US, and it’s not just college students. Even moderate drinkers are at risk, studies say.
No. 7: Getting a good night’s sleep — defined as at least seven to nine hours a night with no insomnia — reduced early death from any cause by 18%, Nguyen said. Dozens of studies have linked poor sleep to all sorts of poor health outcomes, including premature mortality.
“Five percent may seem small, but that’s still a decrease in terms of all-cause mortality,” Nguyen said. “Every little bit helps, whether you pick physical activity or make sure you’re surrounded by positive social support.”
A recent study found people who experienced social isolation had a 32% higher risk of dying early from any cause compared with those who weren’t socially isolated. Participants who reported feeling lonely were 14% more likely to die early than those who did not.
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Long before moving into the White House, President Biden compared the relationship between the United States and Israel to that of close friends. “We love one another,” he said, “and we drive one another crazy.”
The United States and Israel are currently in one of those driving-each-other-crazy phases of their usually tight but often turbulent 75-year partnership.
What makes this moment different is that the rift has nothing to do with the foreign policy and national security matters that typically provoke disagreement, like arms sales, Iran’s nuclear program, territorial claims or the long-running push to forge peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, it concerns a strictly domestic issue inside Israel, namely the balance of power and future of freedom in the one historical bastion of democracy in the Middle East.
The friction among friends has complicated cooperation in other areas where the two allies have common interests. For months, Mr. Biden refused to invite Mr. Netanyahu to Washington, which prevented at least some meetings between lower-level officials. The president relented last week and agreed to get together at some as-yet-unspecified time and place in the United States this year. But he then felt compelled to issue two public statements making clear that he had not changed his mind about Mr. Netanyahu’s drive to limit the power of the courts even as the prime minister is on trial for corruption.
The debate about the prime minister’s plan, which drew hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets of Israel over the weekend in the latest of months of demonstrations, has spread to the Jewish community in the United States as well, at a time when rising partisanship has threatened to undermine American support for Israel.
“People who are left of center are worried or more upset about it overall than people who are right of center,” said Nathan J. Diament, executive director for public policy for the Orthodox Union, one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the country.
“There are many people in the American Orthodox community whose view on the substance is sympathetic or supportive to the reforms,” he added, noting that his community leans more politically conservative, “but nonetheless are worried about the divisiveness that the process has caused.”
Still, he and other longtime advocates and analysts said they remained confident that the relationship between the United States and Israel would endure. After a liberal Democratic congresswoman called Israel a “racist state,” the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution declaring the opposite was true. Only a handful of Democrats boycotted last week’s address to a joint meeting of Congress by President Isaac Herzog, and most of the rest gave him a standing ovation.
Robert B. Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the fight over the judicial plan was “the clash of the century” within Israel, but it did not really affect relations with the United States in a profound way. “It’s a bit of a controversy lite,” he said. “In historical terms, this doesn’t begin to rank as a U.S.-Israel crisis.” Instead, he said, “this really is a fight within the family.”
The United States and Israel have had one of the world’s most intimate partnerships since the Jewish state was founded in 1948 and recognized minutes later by President Harry S. Truman. But conflict has been in the DNA of the relationship from the start. Every president — even the most outspoken supporters of Israel — has quarreled with Israeli prime ministers at one point or another.
Despite recognizing Israel, Mr. Truman refused to sell the new state offensive arms, as did his two successors. Dwight D. Eisenhower forced Israeli forces to withdraw from Egypt after the Suez crisis of 1956. Ronald Reagan was incensed by Israeli lobbying against his high-tech aircraft sale to Saudi Arabia. George H.W. Bush was so opposed to Israeli settlement plans that he suspended $10 billion in housing loan guarantees.
Mr. Netanyahu has been at the heart of many disputes in the last few decades. When he was deputy foreign minister, his public criticism of the United States in 1990 prompted an angry Secretary of State James A. Baker III to bar Mr. Netanyahu from the State Department. Once Mr. Netanyahu became prime minister, Bill Clinton was so turned off after their first meeting in 1996 that he asked aides afterward, “Who’s the superpower here?” using an expletive for emphasis.
Barack Obama and Mr. Netanyahu, never warm, grew even more estranged when the Israeli leader delivered an address to a joint meeting of Congress to lash out at American efforts to negotiate a nuclear agreement with Iran. Even Donald J. Trump, who bent over backward to give Israel virtually everything on its geopolitical shopping list, finally broke with Mr. Netanyahu, first over a disagreement about annexation and later over the Israeli’s congratulations to Mr. Biden for winning the 2020 election.
Mr. Biden’s relationship with Mr. Netanyahu has been scratchy going back years. Mr. Biden once said that he had given a picture to Mr. Netanyahu with an inscription using his nickname: “Bibi, I don’t agree with a damn thing you say but I love you.” As vice president, Mr. Biden was undercut during a visit to Israel by a settlement announcement. But Mr. Biden later insisted that he and Mr. Netanyahu were “still buddies.”
In some ways, Mr. Biden’s approach to Israel has been different from those of his modern predecessors. While he has reaffirmed American support for a two-state solution to the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians, Mr. Biden is the first president in decades not to pursue peace talks, a recognition that there is no short-term prospect for success.
That by itself should have been a relief to Mr. Netanyahu, who has long resented American pressure to make concessions to the Palestinians. But Mr. Netanyahu has been outspoken in his criticism of Mr. Biden’s effort to negotiate a new nuclear agreement with Iran, while Mr. Biden has called Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet “one of the most extreme” he had ever seen.
The judicial changes have been the latest sore point. When Vice President Kamala Harris addressed a celebration of Israel’s 75th anniversary at the country’s embassy in Washington last month, just two words in her speech describing shared values — “independent judiciary” — prompted Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to snap that she had not even read the plan. Yair Lapid, the opposition leader, recently lamented that because of Mr. Netanyahu “the United States is no longer our closest ally.”
For all that, Mr. Satloff said he did not believe Mr. Biden was “looking for a fight” with the Israeli leader — leading to last week’s invitation. “My sense is the administration came to the conclusion that this tactic of withholding a presidential meeting had run its course,” he said.
Nonetheless, Mr. Biden does not think much of the judicial restructuring package, going so far as to summon Thomas L. Friedman, the New York Times columnist, to the Oval Office last week to say that Mr. Netanyahu should “seek the broadest possible consensus here.” He offered another statement to Axios on Sunday, saying that “it looks like the current judicial reform proposal is becoming more divisive, not less.”
Aides insist Mr. Biden is not trying to engineer a specific outcome in an ally’s internal politics. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said the president was simply offering “judicious but straightforward” counsel.
“It’s not about us dictating or lecturing,” Mr. Sullivan said in a brief interview after an appearance last week at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “It’s about us believing deeply that the bedrock of our relationship is our common democratic values.”
Other Democrats likewise said it was appropriate to weigh in with a friend. The enormous street protests “should be a cautionary note to elected leaders in Israel and I hope will give them pause,” said Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware and a close Biden ally.
But some Republicans faulted Mr. Biden for intervening in a domestic issue. “Maybe he knows more about the judicial system and he feels comfortable about telling the Israeli people what they should do,” said Senator James E. Risch of Idaho, the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee. “I don’t think that’s appropriate any more than they should be telling us how we should vote on the Supreme Court here.”
In the American Jewish community, the issue has not generated the same passion seen on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
“The people who were very engaged in the Jewish organizational world were certainly activated by the proposed judicial reform, but I don’t think this gripped broadly the American Jewish community,” said Diana Fersko, senior rabbi at the Village Temple, a Reform synagogue in Manhattan.
Rabbi Fersko, the author of a book about antisemitism that will be released this summer, said the issue is complicated and noted deep differences between Israeli and American societies. “I don’t think the Jewish American community needs to be overly involved in this,” she said. “But I do think we need to have a deep belief that the state of Israel will find a path forward.”
Jamaica goaltender Rebecca Spencer had five saves, keeping France, one of the tournament favorites, at bay.Credit…David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The last time he coached a team at a World Cup, just eight months ago at the men’s tournament in Qatar, Hervé Renard masterminded arguably the biggest surprise in that competition’s history, when his Saudi Arabia team stunned the eventual winner, Argentina, in their opening game.
Here in rain-soaked Sydney, Renard, coaching a women’s team for the first time in a coaching career stretching more than two decades and across three continents, just about avoided the opposite fate on Sunday. His France team, which arrived in Australia with the stated aim of reaching at least the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup, finished its tournament opener with a scoreless draw against Jamaica, a team making only its second tournament appearance after losing all three of its games four years ago.
In a poor game, France had a flurry of chances late to make up for its disjointed play. But Jamaica largely held its own, even though it was ranked almost 40 places lower than France in the pretournament standings (oddsmakers similarly considered Jamaica a 40-to-1 underdog to win).
Instead, it was Jamaica’s star striker Khadija Shaw who threatened to author one of the biggest upsets in recent tournament history, until she was given a red card in the waning minutes of the match.
With her bustling runs, Shaw, a player on big spending English team Manchester City, was difficult to counter — a wrecking ball on both sides of the field who tore into the French defense with slashing runs and who charged at her opponents repeatedly to take back the ball. It was that eagerness that led to her dismissal late as the game hurtled toward a frantic finish, with Jamaica hoping to hold on and France desperately trying to score.
France, a team stitched together by Renard after almost falling apart with infighting and mutiny just months ago, looked far less than the sum of its parts and well short of the play needed for its stated goal of reaching a semifinal.
Jamaica, which rightfully celebrated its first World Cup as if it had won, provided yet more evidence that the gap between women’s soccer’s elite teams and the rest might be narrowing.
Jamaica had for nearly the entirety of the game kept France from creating the type of chances expected of its highly rated attack. But just before the game entered stoppage time, Kadidiatou Diani, a striker on Paris Saint-Germain, leaped into the air and connected with a header that cannoned back into play after striking the goal post, with the Jamaican goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer only able to watch.
That chance was the cue for chaos that included Shaw’s red card and a late charge from France that yielded little beyond half chances and snatched shots.
Shaw’s red card, the result of two yellow cards, means she will miss Jamaica’s next game against Panama on Saturday. “To lose a player of that stature is a big loss,” said Lorne Donaldson, Jamaica’s coach. He added that Shaw’s teammates will have to step up in her absence so that Jamaica still has something to play for when it meets Brazil in its final group game.
France gets Brazil next.
“We just only started the competition today and there’s still a long way to go,” said Renard, adding that he hoped Jamaica repeated its efforts against Panama and Brazil, the other two teams in Group F.
A goal by Stefanie Van Der Gragt (not pictured) of the Netherlands was reviewed after the team was initially being called for being offside. But the goal held and was a game-winner.Credit…Lars Baron/Getty Images
The Women’s World Cup’s newest goal celebration is delayed gratification.
The latest player to join the club was Stefanie van der Gragt of the Netherlands, who scored her team’s only goal in a 1-0 victory against Portugal on Sunday, had it ruled out immediately for offside and then, three long minutes later, had it reinstated after a video review.
“It’s always difficult to wait,” van der Gragt said. “But it doesn’t matter: We win, and that’s what is important.”
Van der Gragt’s brief emotional roller-coaster has been echoed in other games in this tournament. Sophia Smith of the United States experienced the same wait a day earlier, when her second goal against Vietnam was initially disallowed and then returned to her after the officials took a second look.
Many times, the wait is worth it. On Friday, Georgia Stanway of England failed to score on a penalty kick against Haiti only to have another video review grant her a second attempt, which she converted. That same night, the exact same sequence played out for Riko Ueki of Japan.
In each case, as with Van der Gragt’s goal for the Netherlands on Sunday, the key player in the wait was soccer’s video assistant referee system. The system was introduced several years ago not to re-referee games, but to ensure that the officials got all the big calls correct.
While few would argue with that motivation, the system’s many detractors complain that in trying to do the right thing, V.A.R. is robbing the game of some of its spontaneity. Penalty decisions now routinely take several minutes to confirm as plays are scrutinized again and again. Goals are ruled out and then given. Sometimes that leaves players waiting, and waiting, for confirmation that something is actually worth celebrating.
Not everyone, though, minds the wait. A few minutes before Smith’s delayed-gratification goal against Vietnam, the United States had been awarded a penalty kick when the match referee, again using video review, overruled her initial decision that a foul against Trinity Rodman did not merit a trip to the penalty spot.
United States Coach Vlatko Andonovski said he would never complain about the wait to get a call correct.
“With all the cameras, with V.A.R., with all the angles that the referees are reviewing, I’m sure that they’re calling the right call,” he said.
The upside for van der Gragt on Sunday? She got to celebrate the game’s only goal twice.
Sweden had a good sweat from South Africa, but eventually broke through for a win.Credit…John Cowpland/Associated Press
The first four days of the World Cup have produced a string of curiously narrow score lines for some of the tournament favorites. A scoreless tie for Canada. A 1-0 win for England, the European champion, against the World Cup newcomer Haiti. The United States’ 3-0 victory over Vietnam.
Sunday brought the prospect of the tournament’s first true shocker. And then just like that, it was gone.
The scare came courtesy of South Africa, and striker Hildah Magaia, who bundled a rebound into Sweden’s goal three minutes into the second half to give her team a stunning 1-0 lead against Sweden, the world’s third-ranked team. The South African players could hardly believe their luck, and were soon celebrating with a dance. Their coaching staff poured off the bench and then dissolved into a series of bear hugs.
But then Sweden stormed back. Fridolina Rolfo tied score with a goal at the back post in the 65th minute, and defender Amanda Ilestedt got the winner with a header off a corner kick in the 90th.
Much was made before the World Cup of the potential gap between the eight first-time entrants and the traditional powers. The first week has shown the talent gap might not be as yawning as some think.
Sophia Smith, right, with Crystal Dunn.Credit…Andrew Cornaga/Associated Press
To a small subset of devoted soccer fans, Sophia Smith’s goal celebration during the United States’ 3-0 victory against Vietnam would have looked familiar.
After her second goal in the U.S. team’s 3-0 victory over Vietnam, Smith ran her fingers across her lips to zip them and then threw away an imaginary key. It was the same goal celebration her good friend and former Stanford teammate Katie Meyer used during a penalty shootout at the 2019 N.C.A.A. championship game. The gesture by Meyer, Stanford’s goalkeeper and team captain, quickly went viral.
When Stanford won the penalty shootout that day, Smith ran to Meyer and leaped onto her, causing them both to tumble to the ground.
Just over two years later, in March 2022, Meyer was found dead in her dorm room only a few months before graduation. She had killed herself.
“That was for Katie,” Smith said after the Vietnam game, explaining that she and another former Stanford player on the U.S. team, Naomi Girma, had planned the goal celebration in the days leading up to the World Cup. Both have dedicated this tournament to Meyer.
In Meyer’s memory, Smith and Girma also launched a mental health care initiative with the nonprofit Common Goal that included filming a public service announcement with several of their U.S. teammates. “We just want to honor her in every way,” Smith said.
Vulnerability is a sign of strength, not weakness. My teammates and I are determined to make sure everyone has the support they need.
Launching the first mental health initiative of its kind with my friends at @CommonGoalOrg.
Smith said Meyer’s death “changed everything” about her life. It has helped her value her friendships more, she said, and put other issues into perspective.
“Now I don’t take things too seriously,” said Smith, who left Stanford two years early to play professionally. “I realized that there’s so many more important things happening and the little things that stress me out take a toll on me.”
France’s new manager, Hervé Renard.Credit…Isabella Moore for The New York Times
France arrived in Australia as a World Cup favorite on the mend. Torn apart by bitter feuds, it has in recent months lost players, welcomed them back, and then lost them again. It has changed coaches, changed approaches and changed tactics. And now it has asked Hervé Renard, a respected 54-year-old with a decorated men’s World Cup résumé but no previous experience coaching women, to carry it at least as far as the semifinals.
He started the process, he said, by being open about what he did not know.
“For me everything was new because I didn’t know women’s football, how to manage the girls,” he said. “I was lucky because on our staff a lot of people were already working with women’s football. So I was listening.”
MRA’s CEO created a repeatable wireless communication methodology using Logical Circuits (AND, OR, NOT) intertwined fractal geometric patterns, without power. Easily demonstrated.
Columbia, Maryland, July 24, 2023, MRA Digital sent shockwaves throughout the Tech Sector with the news about their next generation of Logical Circuits and wireless data communication worldwide. Logical Circuits are the building blocks of all technology on the planet and made possible the creation of computers, cell phones, tablets, etc. Consider this; Geometric patterns do not need an external power source to operate. External power is not required because the geometric patterns are created to be in resonance and self-energized when a special frequency is applied to them.
Founder & CEO of MRA Digital, Scientist Glen Alexis brilliantly created geometric patterns that when a special frequency is applied to them, they function as Logical Circuits, perform wireless data communication and are programmable.
During a recent interview, Glen made these comments, “The geometric patterns are created by combining my knowledge of the Spiritual Science of Obia with the geometry of waves and resonance. With my unique technology, naturally intelligent programable energy fields can now be created. The word science fiction must be stricken from all languages, because all things are possible. Organic intelligence geometry (Oi-g) is the official name for these geometric patterns which are fractals, and are infinite by nature.”
Mr. Alexis offers his YouTube videos which demonstrates the following:
The creation of functional AND, OR, and NOT Logical Circuits when a special frequency is applied to the Oi-g patterns.
Signal Multiplier Oi-g pattern that creates an output signal which is 3X faster than the input signal frequency. In the video the input signal of 7MHz created an output signal of 21MHz.
Wireless Communication between two Oi-g patterns that are paired and separated by 30 inches.
Mr. Alexis explains how Oi-g patterns work, “When the special frequency (Resonant Frequency) is applied to Oi-g patterns, a connection is established between the physical Oi-g pattern and a coherent energy field of the same energetic form and resonance. The energy fields are designed to perform certain functions, in this case AND, OR, and NOT logical operations.
Oi-g patterns are portals that creates a bridge/connection between the physical and spiritual dimension where energy fields exist. Once a connection is made, energy can be transferred between the two dimensions (like a mobile phone connecting to the internet).”
He continues, “Because Oi-g patterns are coherent and are naturally in resonance, external power is not required. The logical operations “the processing” of the circuit is done within the energy field, which IS energy. Energy fields “process” data in Zero time (instantaneously), this is because time does not exist in spiritual dimensions. In addition, Oi-g patterns are fractals by nature; and thus, depending on the end application, they can scale up or down in size with no limitations.
Twelve (12) demonstration Oi-g units with a Resonant Frequency of 147MHz (the special frequency) have been fabricated and shall be provided to select academic institutions around the world for evaluation. The samples were manufactured using low-cost FR4 Printed Circuit Board (PCB) standards.”
About MRA Digital:
Headquartered in Columbia, MD, MRA Digital is a privately held company that designs and develops state-of-the art electronics and systems for military and defense applications. These products include real-time video processing FPGA based CPU’s, Near-to-Eye and Opto-electronic systems just to name a few.
Their technology and products are used in theater and for military training; they provide the war fighter with situational awareness and allows them to focus on the task as hand. Their products are used by the top defense contractors within the United States and around the world.
Why battle the crowds in Europe this summer when there are so many charming, even unexpected, destinations? Below are a few places to while away the summer, including a revamped motel on a beach in New York; Airstream suites under the stars in Utah; new addresses in Kentucky that pay homage to horse culture; and a ranch in Wyoming that’s introducing activities like cuddling with goats and learning about llamas. And if you’re longing for an international getaway, it’s low season in Argentina, where a boutique hotel has opened amid the vineyards and wineries of Mendoza. Whether you’re interested in raising a glass or in the raisingof llamas, a quiet getaway awaits.
For some, there’s no better way to spend a summer than in the Hamptons in New York. Others, seeking a more relaxed escape, look to the wineries and country roads of Long Island’s North Fork. It’s there, on a beach, that this former 1950s motel opened in late June after being sold last year and reimagined. Here you’ll find 20 rooms as well as eightbeach shacks (studio and one-bedroom cottages with private screened-in porches and outdoor showers) and four bungalows, each with outdoor space. Beach houseswith full kitchens and fireplaces are scheduled to open in the fall.
When you’re in the mood for a bite, you need not hit the road. The food and beverage spots at Silver Sands are being overseen by Ryan Hardy, the chef behind the Italian-inspired Manhattan restaurants Charlie Bird and Pasquale Jones. At Eddie’s Oyster Bar you can order seafood, lobster rolls and salads. There’s a pizza truck, too. Coffee, pastries and grab-and-go bites can be had at the snack bar. And for cocktails, beer and wine, look no further than the Lobby Bar. There are also plans for a diner later this summer. As for outdoor pursuits, you don’t have to go far for those, either: There are free kayaks and bikes for guests.And unlike some beach town properties, this one plans to be open year-round.Prices from $500 a night for bungalows, from $595 a night for motel rooms and from $645 a night for beach shacks during peak season (through Sept. 30).
Kentucky is known for bourbon and horse racing, and in Lexington, this new 125 room-and-suitehotelpays tribute to both. Located on Manchester Street in the distillery district, it’s on the site of the city’s first registered distillery, established in 1865. Its brickfacade is meant to evoke the area’s historic bourbon warehouses (rickhouses), while inside, wood and jewel-toned rooms create a warm atmosphere.
When you get hungry, drop into Granddam (the term for the grandmother of a horse), where leather seating is meant to suggest saddles and the food is a modern take on Appalachian-inspired dishes like tomato pie and 12-hour-roasted wild boar. Up on the roof, the Lost Palm bar and lounge aims to transport you to 1960s South Florida, yet another center of horse culture, with its playful Art Deco style. A “tiki cocktail program” and dishes made for sharing, such as taco al pastor with alligator, and baked and stuffed spiny lobster tails, bring a touch of the tropics to Southern comfort cooking. And yes, there’s a gym, so you can work it off later. Prices from $220 a night.
About an hour and a half west of Lexington, in Louisville’s East Market district, known as NuLu or New Louisville, this 122 room-and-suite hotel takes its name from a regional type of limestone as well as St. Genevieve, a patron saint of Paris and a nod to Louisville’s connections to France. (The city is named for King Louis XVI, after all.) Yet another Kentucky newcomer, the hotel, from the Bunkhouse hospitality company, is surrounded by shops, bars and distilleries. You can also walk to Louisville Slugger Field, the Waterfront Botanical Gardens and the Big Four Bridge over the Ohio River, which connects Louisville’s Waterfront Park to Indiana.
Inside the hotel, a combination of modern and vintage furniture and artwork celebrates Kentucky’s history and culture. A restaurant called Rosettes, named for horse racing ribbons, offers fare from the culinary director Ashleigh Shanti, a 2020 finalist for the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year and a former competitor on the Bravo series “Top Chef.” There’s also a rooftop lounge, Bar Genevieve, for cocktails and light bites, as well as Mini Marché for coffee and grab-and-go breakfast and lunch. The market is also the entrance to the intimate Lucky Penny bar, where you can sip a cocktail long after everyone else has turned in for the night. Prices from $195 a night.
Planning to visit Zion National Park? If camping doesn’t sound like much of a vacation, try the nascent 16-acre AutoCamp Zion where you can book various types of accommodations such as Airstreams and cabins. The 31-foot Classic Airstream Suite, for instance, has a kitchenette, queen bed, private bathroom, heating and cooling, and a private patio with fire pit and dining area. Or consider a Classic Cabin with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area, along with an outdoor dining area. Accessible accommodations are also available.
Beyond your sleeping quarters, you can savor the desert landscape through the wall ofwindowsin the property’s Clubhouse, where you can also stop at the General Store for beer, wine and grocery items. Or head to the Kitchen for dishes like breakfast quesadillas, sandwiches, pizza and burgers.When not exploring the park, consider a free morning yoga session, a swim in the pool or a ride on a mountain bike (free for guests to use). Or simply linger by the Virgin River. Prices from $269 a night into the fall.
While it’s summer in the United States, it’s winter in Argentina, when there are typically fewer crowds. Yet no matter the season, you’ll most likely find some tranquillity at this boutique wine hotel opened by Susana Balbo, a well-regarded winemaker (and the first woman in Argentina to graduate with a degree in oenology), along with her daughter. Located in a suburb of Mendoza, the hotel is nestled between the Andes and the city of Mendoza, and has just seven suites. The spa suites have private gardens with outdoor fire pits and heated loungers, steam rooms, “sensations showers” that allow for various combinations of water pressures and temperatures, massage tables and locally made bath products. Each suite also has a living room, a terrace and a wine fridge (some also have dry saunas). All of the suites surround a house and an outdoor pool, a setup meant to cultivate the feeling that you’re staying at a friend’s estate — only this friend has a “wellness butler” to prepare a bath of local salts and herbs in your in-suite tub, and a restaurant called La VidA that serves traditional Argentine cuisine.
There are wine tastings, of course, as well as blending classes where you can combine different varietals to create your own wine. And for those who want to taste and tour, there are “wine safaris” by seaplane to destinations like Patagonia and the Andes. Here, wine isn’t just for drinking: You can try a spa treatment like the body hydration wrap with red wine cream and raisins. Around the property, you’ll see works by Argentine and Brazilian artists. And if you want to work up a sweat, there are exercise kits with elastic bands, kettlebells, dumbbells, a yoga mat and a jump rope.Prices from $780 a night (through September) based on double occupancy, including breakfast. Note:The hotel is for ages 15 and older.
For many people, mountain towns are places to ski and snowboard. Yet their warm-weather pleasures shouldn’t be overlooked. And few destinations offer as much to do in the summertime as Brush Creek Ranch, tucked between the Sierra Madre range and Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. There are three guest ranches: the Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch (which has 19 rooms in its Trailhead Lodge and 25 private log cabins), Magee Homestead (nine cabins) and French Creek (four cabins and a glamping yurt). Guests can participate in activities like the Llama Hike and Picnic, a full or half day of hiking ($200 to $400 per person), and Llama Wade Fly Fishing, a full-day excursion with fishing guides and llamas to carry your gear and picnic lunch ($750 for two guests). For something less vigorous, try Llamas 101, where you can feed and groom the animals and have play time with the babies, known as crias ($150 per person). Llamas aren’t the only animals in residence. Among Brush Creek’s new experiences are Goat Pasture Walks, where you’ll eat breakfast at a goat dairy creamery, then stroll through a pasture with a herd of goats as they have their breakfast ($200 per person).
Prices from $1,550 a person a night based on double occupancy (guests receive a free night when staying four or more nights). Packages include accommodations, certain ranch activities(such as archery, rock climbing and guided ranger tours) and dining, including a selection of drinks.
At her annual visit, the patient’s doctor asks if she plans to continue having regular mammograms to screen for breast cancer lifestyle choices, and then reminds her that it’s been almost 10 years since her last colonoscopy.
She’s 76. Hmmm.
The patient’s age alone may be an argument against further mammogram appointments. The independent and influential U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, in its latest draft guidelines, recommends screening mammograms for women 40 to 74, but says “the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening mammography in women age 75 years or older.”
Screening for colorectal cancer, with a colonoscopy or with a less invasive test, becomes similarly questionable at advanced ages. The task force gives it a C grade for those 76 to 85, meaning there’s “at least moderate certainty that the net benefit is small.” It should only be offered selectively, the guidelines say.
But what else is true about this hypothetical woman? Is she playing tennis twice a week? Does she have heart disease? Did her parents live well into their 90s? Does she smoke?
Any or all such factors affect her life expectancy, which in turn could make future cancer screenings either useful, pointless or actually harmful. The same considerations apply to an array of health decisions at older ages, including those involving drug regimens, surgeries, other treatments and screenings.
“It doesn’t make sense to draw these lines by age,” said Dr. Steven Woloshin, an internist and director of the Center for Medicine and Media at the Dartmouth Institute. “It’s age plus other factors that limit your life.”
Slowly, therefore, some medical associations and health advocacy groups have begun to shift their approaches, basing recommendations about tests and treatments on life expectancy rather than simply age.
“Life expectancy gives us more information than age alone,” said Dr. Sei Lee, a geriatrician at the University of California, San Francisco. “It leads to better decision making more often.”
Some recent task force recommendations already reflect this broader view. For older people undergoing lung cancer tests, for instance, the guidelines advise considering factors like smoking history and “a health problem that substantially limits life expectancy” in deciding when to discontinue screening.
The task force’s colorectal screening guidelines call for considering an older patient’s “health status (e.g., life expectancy, co-morbid conditions), prior screening status and individual preferences.”
But how does that 76-year-old woman know how long she will live? How does anybody know?
A 75-year-old has an average life expectancy of 12 years. But when Dr. Eric Widera, a geriatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed census data from 2019, he found enormous variation.
The data shows that the least healthy 75-year-olds, those in the lowest 10 percent, were likely to die in about three years. Those in the top 10 percent would probably live for another 20 or so.
All these predictions are based on averages and can’t pinpoint life expectancy for individuals. But just as doctors constantly use risk calculators to decide, say, whether to prescribe drugs to prevent osteoporosis or heart disease, consumers can use online tools to get ballpark estimates.
For instance, Dr. Woloshin and his late wife and research partner, Dr. Lisa Schwartz, helped the National Cancer Institute develop the Know Your Chances calculator, which went online in 2015. Initially, it used age, sex and race (but only two, Black or white, because of limited data) to predict the odds of dying from specific common diseases and the odds of mortality overall over a span of five to 20 years.
The institute recently revised the calculator to add smoking status, a critical factor in life expectancy and one that, unlike the other criteria, users have some control over.
“Personal lifestyle choices are driven by priorities and fears, but objective information can help inform those decisions,” said Dr. Barnett Kramer, an oncologist who directed the institute’s Division of Cancer Prevention when it published the calculator.
He called it “an antidote to some of the fear-mongering campaigns that patients see all the time on television,” courtesy of drug manufacturers, medical organizations, advocacy groups and alarmist media reports. “The more information they can glean from these tables, the more they can arm themselves against health care lifestyle choices that don’t help them,” Dr. Kramer said. Unnecessary testing, he pointed out, can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
A number of health institutions and groups provide disease-specific online calculators. The American College of Cardiology offers a “risk estimator” for cardiovascular disease. A National Cancer Institute calculator assesses breast cancer risk, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center provides one for lung cancer.
Calculators that look at single diseases, however, don’t usually compare the risks to those of mortality from other causes. “They don’t give you the context,” Dr. Woloshin said.
Probably the broadest online tool for estimating life expectancy in older adults is ePrognosis, developed in 2011 by Dr. Widera, Dr. Lee and several other geriatricians and researchers. Intended for use by health care professionals but also available to consumers, it offers about two dozen validated geriatric scales that estimate mortality and disability.
The calculators, some for patients living on their own and others for those in nursing homes or hospitals, incorporate considerable information about health history and current functional ability. Helpfully, there’s a “time to benefit” instrument that illustrates which screenings and interventions may remain useful at specific life expectancies.
Consider our hypothetical 76-year-old. If she’s a healthy never-smoker who is experiencing no problems with daily activities and is able, among other things, to walk a quarter mile without difficulty, a mortality scale on ePrognosis shows that her extended life expectancy makes mammography a reasonable choice, regardless of what age guidelines say.
“The risk of just using age as a cutoff means we’re sometimes undertreating” very healthy seniors, Dr. Widera said.
If she’s a former smoker with lung disease, diabetes and limited mobility, on the other hand, the calculator indicates that while she probably should continue taking a statin, she can end breast cancer screening.
“Competing mortality” — the chance that another illness will cause her death before the one being screened for — means that she will probably not live long enough to see a benefit.
Of course, patients will continue to make decisions of their own. Life expectancy is a guide, not a limit on medical care. Some older people don’t ever want to stop screenings, even when the data shows they’re no longer helpful.
And some have exactly zero interest in discussing their life expectancy; so do some of their doctors. Either party can over- or underestimate risks and benefits.
“Patients simply will say, ‘I had a great-uncle who lived to 103,’” Dr. Kramer recalled. “Or if you tell someone, ‘Your chances of long-term survival are one in 1,000,’ a strong psychological mechanism leads people to say, ‘Oh thank God, I thought it was hopeless.’ I saw it all the time.”
But for those seeking to make health decisions on evidence-based calculations, the online tools provide valuable context beyond age alone. Considering projected life expectancy, “You’ll know what to focus on, as opposed to being frightened by whatever’s in the news that day,” Dr. Woloshin said. “It anchors you.”
The developers want patients to discuss these predictions with their medical providers, however, and caution against making decisions without their involvement.
“This is meant to be a jumping-off point” for conversations, Dr. Woloshin said. “It’s possible to make much more informed decisions — but you need some help.”
Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing criminal investigations into former President Donald J. Trump, employs 40 to 60 career prosecutors, paralegals and support staff, augmented by a rotating cast of F.B.I. agents and technical specialists, according to people familiar with the situation.
In his first four months on the job, starting in November, Mr. Smith’s investigation incurred expenses of $9.2 million. That included $1.9 million to pay the U.S. Marshals Service to protect Mr. Smith, his family and other investigators who have faced threats after the former president and his allies singled them out on social media.
At this rate, the special counsel is on track to spend about $25 million a year.
The main driver of all these efforts and their concurrent expenses is Mr. Trump’s own behavior — his unwillingness to accept the results of an election as every one of his predecessors has done, his refusal to heed his own lawyers’ advice and a grand jury’s order to return government documents and his lashing out at prosecutors in personal terms.
Even the $25 million figure only begins to capture the full scale of the resources dedicated by federal, state and local officials to address Mr. Trump’s behavior before, during and after his presidency. While no comprehensive statistics are available, Justice Department officials have long said that the effort alone to prosecute the members of the pro-Trump mob who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is the largest investigation in its history. That line of inquiry is only one of many criminal and civil efforts being brought to hold Mr. Trump and his allies to account.
As the department and prosecutors in New York and Georgia move to charge Mr. Trump, the current Republican presidential front-runner, the scope of their work, in terms of quantifiable costs, is gradually becoming clear.
These efforts, taken as a whole, do not appear to be siphoning resources that would otherwise be used to combat crime or undertake other investigations. But the agencies are paying what one official called a “Trump tax” — forcing leaders to expend disproportionate time and energy on the former president, and defending themselves against his unfounded claims that they are persecuting him at the expense of public safety.
In a political environment growing more polarized as the 2024 presidential race takes shape, Republicans have made the scale of the federal investigation of Mr. Trump and his associates an issue in itself. Earlier this month, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee grilled the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, on the scale of the investigations, and suggested they might block the reauthorization of a warrantless surveillance program used to investigate several people suspected of involvement in the Jan. 6 breach or oppose funding for the bureau’s new headquarters.
“What Jack Smith is doing is actually pretty cheap considering the momentous nature of the charges,” said Timothy J. Heaphy, former U.S. attorney who served as lead investigator for the House committee that investigated the Capitol assault.
The “greater cost” is likely to be the damage inflicted by relentless attacks on the department, which could be “incalculable,” he added.
At the peak of the Justice Department’s efforts to hunt down and charge the Jan. 6 rioters, many U.S. attorney’s offices and all 56 F.B.I. field offices had officials pursuing leads. At one point, more than 600 agents and support personnel from the bureau were assigned to the riot cases, officials said.
In Fulton County, Ga., the district attorney, Fani T. Willis, a Democrat, has spent about two years conducting a wide-ranging investigation into election interference. The office has assigned about 10 of its 370 employees to the elections case, including prosecutors, investigators and legal assistants, according to officials.
The authorities in Michigan and Arizona are scrutinizing Republicans who sought to pass themselves off as Electoral College electors in states won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020.
For all their complexity and historical importance, the Trump-related prosecutions have not significantly constrained the ability of prosecutors to carry out their regular duties or forced them to abandon other types of cases, officials in all of those jurisdictions have repeatedly said.
In Manhattan, where Mr. Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with his alleged attempts to suppress reports of an affair with a pornographic actress, the number of assistant district attorneys assigned to the case is in the single digits, according to officials.
That has not stopped Mr. Trump from accusing the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat, of diverting resources that might have gone to fight street crime. In fact, the division responsible for bringing the case was the financial crimes unit, and the office has about 500 other prosecutors who have no part in the investigation.
“Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on,” Mr. Trump wrote on the day in March that he was indicted. “This is how Bragg spends his time!”
Mr. Trump pursued a similar line of attack against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who sued the former president and his family business and accused them of fraud. (Local prosecutors, not the state, are responsible for bringing charges against most violent criminals.)
The Justice Department, which includes the F.B.I. and the U.S. Marshals, is a sprawling organization with an annual budget of around $40 billion, and it has more than enough staff to absorb the diversion of key prosecutors, including the chief of its counterintelligence division, Jay Bratt, to the special counsel’s investigations, officials said.
A vast majority of Mr. Smith’s staff members were already assigned to those cases before he was appointed, simply moving their offices across town to work under him. Department officials have emphasized that about half of the special counsel’s expenses would have been paid out, in the form of staff salaries, had the department never investigated Mr. Trump.
That is not to say the department has not been under enormous pressure in the aftermath of the 2020 election and attack on the Capitol.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which has brought more than 1,000 cases against Jan. 6 rioters, initially struggled to manage the mountain of evidence, including thousands of hours of video, tens of thousands of tips from private citizens and hundreds of thousands of pages of investigative documents. But the office created an internal information management system, at a cost of millions of dollars, to organize one of the largest collections of discovery evidence ever gathered by federal investigators.
Prosecutors from U.S. attorney’s offices across the country have been called in to assist their colleagues in Washington. Federal defenders’ offices in other cities have also pitched in, helping the overwhelmed Washington office to represent defendants charged in connection with Jan. 6.
“If you combine the Trump investigation with the Jan. 6 prosecutions, you can say it really has had an impact on the internal machinations of the department,” said Anthony D. Coley, who served as the chief spokesman for Attorney General Merrick B. Garland until earlier this year. “It didn’t impede the department’s capacity to conduct its business, but you definitely had a situation where prosecutors were rushed in from around the country to help out.”
While the Washington field office of the F.B.I. is in charge of the investigation of the Capitol attack, defendants have been arrested in all 50 states. Putting together those cases and taking suspects into custody has required the help of countless agents in field offices across the country.
The bureau has not publicly disclosed the number of agents specifically assigned to the investigations into Mr. Trump, but people familiar with the situation have said the number is substantial but comparatively much smaller. They include agents who oversaw the search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate and worked on various aspects of the Jan. 6 case; and bureau lawyers who often play a critical, under-the-radar role in investigations.
A substantial percentage of those working on both cases are F.B.I. agents. In a letter to House Republicans in June, Carlos Uriarte, the department’s legislative affairs director, disclosed that Mr. Smith employed around 26 special agents, with additional agents being brought on from “time to time” for specific tasks related to the investigations.
In terms of expense, Mr. Smith’s work greatly exceeds that of the other special counsel appointed by Mr. Garland, Robert K. Hur, who is investigating President Biden’s handling of classified documents after he left the vice presidency. Mr. Hur has spent about $1.2 million from his appointment in January through March, on pace for $5.6 million in annual expenditures.
An analysis of salary data in the report suggests Mr. Hur is operating with a considerably smaller staff than Mr. Smith, perhaps 10 to 20 people, some newly hired, others transferred from the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, which initiated the investigation.
For now, the two cases do not appear to be comparable in scope or seriousness. Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden returned all the government documents in his possession shortly after finding them, and Mr. Hur’s staff is not tasked with any other lines of inquiry.
A more apt comparison is to the nearly two-year investigation by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller into the 2016 Trump campaign’s connections to Russia, which resulted in a decision not to indict Mr. Trump.
The semiannual reports filed by Mr. Mueller’s office are roughly in line, if somewhat less, than Mr. Smith’s first report, tallying about $8.5 million in expenses.
Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting from New York, and Danny Hakim from Atlanta.
