Kind: Reads

Threatening the nation that protects them Sometimes in grazing the net, a theme appears in otherwise disconnected bits of internet flotsam. The current of electrons this morning delivered several random entries pointing toward the cultural degradation of the very people in this country who decry cultural degradation the loudest. This is the real American carnage, to borrow a phrase. The meme at the top is one example. The man who entered American carnage into the lexicon spoke of “Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted out factories, scattered like tombstones across the across the landscape of our nation, an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.” His most ardent followers are working at this very moment to decimate public education, to proscribe what children can learn, and to ensure children remain in poverty. Violent crime is rampant, he suggested, and does to this day. People believe him. In fact, violent crime is down. Yes, property crimes are up, but along with hate crimes targeting Blacks, Latinos, and LGBTQ+ Americans. Antisemitic crimes are up as well. Another bit of flotsam this TikTok video by comedian John Fugelsang, riffing on a theme familar to fans of this son of a former nun and former Fransiscan brother. His targets are the very “people of faith” most devoted to the former president. Post by @johnfugelsang View on Threads The Liberty Way Perhaps the most damning bit this morning comes from…

Continue readingOh ye of bad faith

Those of us who write about higher education can pay too much attention to America’s elite universities. Schools like Harvard, Yale and Stanford are seen as virtual cultural superpowers, and the battle over these schools is sometimes seen as a proxy for battles over the future of the country itself. It’s not that this argument is wrong, exactly. That’s why I’ve written about these schools myself. But it’s incomplete.

The Moral Collapse of America’s Largest Christian University by David French

The light goes out of Liberty.

There is a reason so many Jews cannot stop shaking right now. The concept of intergenerational trauma doesn’t begin to describe the dark place into which this month’s attack plunged Jewish communities around the world.

Watch now (9 mins) | Erev Shabbat, three quick clips that touch on those three subjects.

Plus: Mitt's burn book.

Consolidation isn't going to help.

Would Elon Pull ExTwitter Out Of The EU To Avoid The DSA Overreach? by Mike Masnick

This course of events was all too predictable. In May of 2022, while Elon was still in the “trying to buy Twitter” stage, we pointed out the absolute ridiculousness of him meeting with the EU’s Thierry Breton and saying that he fully endorsed the EU’s DSA approach. As we noted at the time, the whole […]

We’re watching one of the best foreign policy responses by a U.S. president in a generation. We ought to recognize it.

In part 1, I discussed why you might want to bridge your Indieweb site to the Fediverse. In this follow up post, I’ll describe one way of doing it that I’ve been tinkering with recently. The tl;dr: using WordPress Indieweb plugins and Bridgy Fed; it works pretty smoothly; still a few quirks at p...

Over the past few days, I’ve been covering Jim Jordan’s quest to become Speaker, which now looks in serious doubt. Over the weekend, in order to secure more votes, Jordan’s allies, as well as some notable online and right-wing influencers, began a pressure campaign to get holdouts, numbering 55 at the time, to switch their votes and support him.

Members of the Squad dodge questions.

We're seeing numerous examples even in the speakership fiasco.

Morning news roundup!

President Joe Biden's comments warning Israel not to make the same mistakes that the US made after 9/11 was a stunning critique of US policy.