Sublime
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A curb on the practice was enacted in 1917, after President Wilson had added a phrase to the American political lexicon by denouncing “a little group of willful men” (actually eleven senators, including La Follette and his fellow liberal George Norris) who had talked to death Wilson’s proposal to arm American merchantmen against German submarine at
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
... See moreIn 1896, Brooks Adams wrote a book called The Law of Civilization and Decay. Like most late-19th-century commentators, he believed that his country was nearing a watershed in its history. But unless America rallied around a strong leader, the center of world power, which he thought might be about to shift from England to the United States, would sh
As America descends into anarchy, the CCP points to their functional-but-highly-unfree system as the only alternative, and exports a turnkey version of their surveillance state to other countries as the next version of Belt and Road, as a piece of “infrastructure” that comes complete with a SaaS subscription to China’s all-seeing AI eye.
Balaji Srinivasan • The Network State: How To Start a New Country
the “Propaganda Model” actually has a fair amount of elite advocacy. In fact, there’s a very significant tradition among elite democratic thinkers in the West which claims that the media and the intellectual class in general ought to carry out a propaganda function—they’re supposed to marginalize the general population by controlling what’s called
... See morePeter Mitchell • Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky
The political philosopher Danielle Allen makes a powerful argument that the fundamental purpose of the American public education system is to ensure an informed citizenry.
Ethan Zuckerman • Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them
What was Trump? A fascist? A white nationalist? A malignant narcissist? A conservative with very bad manners? Once he became president, his only legislative achievement—a huge tax cut that heavily favored the rich and corporations—fit right in with Republican orthodoxy. His court appointments were friendly to business interests and also to religiou
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