A world of hurt

The incoming year couldn’t face a less-demanding mandate: Don’t be as messed-up as 2016, which seemed to set a new low almost weekly.

Prominent among them, of course, is the refugee crisis that never seems to end.

With the Dec. 26 double issue of Time, a year-long series called Finding Home is launched, which follows four refugee mothers who gave birth in September in Greece, chronicling their experiences in video and photos as they raise their children in a foreign country.

“They are between worlds,” Time reports, “and about the only thing certain in their lives is that they probably won’t see their parents’ home country until they are adults, if ever.”

The 14-page spread is sure to tug a few heart strings, though Time is probably aiming a little higher — as in a Pulitzer Prize.

Also in the issue, a refreshing look at the presidential election, focusing on Vice President-elect Mike Pence for a change, with a profile declaring that Pence “is no ordinary wingman.”

Pence and Trump are fierce buds now, according to Time, which describes the evolution of their relationship from when Pence remained mum when Trump contradicted himself during the debates and at rallies, but now defends his every tweet. The Indiana governor, Time claims, is the “central figure” vetting Cabinet picks and is also the one who “can mellow his billionaire boss.”

Gun violence is the explosive topic New York zeroes in on for its year-end double issue, in which the book pits the gun advocate who auctioned off the Glock that killed Trayvon Martin against the mother of a daughter who died in a mass shooting. The mag brings together the two camps as part of an “experiment in radical empathy” that was done with a nonprofit group called Narrative 4. The stories are compelling and the partnerships — for example, a cop is paired with the mother of child shot by a cop — are unlikely.

Food columnist Adam Platt does his annual thing about where to eat in 2017 with a dash of humor on trends he’s sick of — including “absurd” cocktail names like “Upset the Apple Cart” and the focus on everyone’s “backstory,” including the “house forager.”

And New York poses the question: of who will do what outgoing senator Harry Reid has done for decades in Congress? Spoiler alert: Hometown boy Chuck Schumer is the annointed Democratic savior.

OK, that’s enough! It’s a new year! How about a little hope here?

Well, how about a cure for Lyme disease soon? Or malaria? The New Yorker gives us a gleam that these may be in sight. A group of MIT scientists are hard at work “rewriting the code of life.” These highly evolved experts are creating molecular tools that could even eradicate smallpox, malaria, yellow fever (and a multitude of other fevers that you get from traveling to farflung places). As for Lyme disease, which is far more common in our backyards, apparently the tick has infected a quarter of the population of Nantucket, Mass.

We also learn that the strongman in charge of Egypt — President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi — is disarmingly soft-spoken, despite the fact that he rose to power in a coup. Sisi is also the first foreign leader to place a congratulatory call to Presi- dent-elect Trump. Writer Peter Hessler describes Sisi as a leader “who is not a real politician.” Sound familiar?

The New Yorker has a lot to say about the Middle East. Dexter Filkins fills us in on an Iraqi dam, the Mosul, which is on the verge of a collapse of “biblical proportions.”

OK, Let’s try technology. Technology’s good, right?

Uber and Amazon have a lot in common, according to Forbes, which slapped the ride-hail app’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, on its cover and claims that he’s got Amazon on his brain. As the richest start-up in history, with a valuation of $68 billion, Uber is “one of the world’s most interesting companies,” Forbes gushes. Kalanick can raise as much money as he wants without being profitable or having an IPO in his sights. We also learn that more people earn a paycheck from Uber than from any private employer in the world, except Walmart and McDonald’s.

Forbes, perhaps, glosses over the bad rap Kalanick has earned over the years for being a difficult boss. “He’s mellowing out and moving past his scorched-earth insurgent days.”

Less interesting is the list of the world’s most powerful people. Don’t we already know who they are?

Maybe the most interesting point is that Russian President Vladimir Putin gets top billing over Trump, who comes in second on the list of 74