Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
There has been a sudden spike recently in expressions of racism in French public life—one that has provoked a national debate and may lead to legal action this week. It began last month, when a candidate for the right-wing National Front likened Christiane Taubira, the Justice Minister, who is black, to a monkey, pairing…
Defending free speech and free press rights, which typically means defending the right to disseminate the very ideas society finds most repellent, has been one of my principal passions for the last 20 years: previously as a lawyer and now as a journalist. So I consider it positive when large numbers of people loudly invoke this principle, as has been…
After only a couple of months in the adult industry, 21-year-old Lebanese-American Mia Khalifa took the crown for most-searched-for star on PornHub from the legendary Lisa Ann of “Nailin’ Paylin” fame. It was a surprise win for the newcomer, who took to Instagram to humbly celebrate with a blushing emoji and caption reading, “nothing but…
Why the death of Ahmed Merabet, one of the police officers who was killed in Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo attack, is a vital part of the story in France. Antonio Bronic/Reuters/The Atlantic For a number of reasons, the death of Ahmed Merabet should provide a way to understand Wednesday’s horrific shooting in Paris. Merabet, one of…
Disappointing, but not surprising. (Steve Debenport/iStock) As a follow-up to recent studies on sexism and harassment in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), researchers studied the Internet’s reaction to the evidence those studies provided — and it turned out the way you’d expect, if you’ve ever been on the Internet. Male commenters flipped out. The new study’s results were published…
The shattering events of 2014, beginning with Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, in August, did more than touch off a national debate about police behavior, criminal justice and widening inequality in America. They also gave a new birth of passion and energy to a civil rights movement that had almost faded into history, and…
Defenders of the police department too often ignore credible evidence that its treatment of minorities leaves much room for improvement. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters A dozen years ago, City Journal, the quarterly magazine of The Manhattan Institute, published “The Black Cops You Never Hear About” by Heather Mac Donald, one of the sharpest, most eloquent, and zealous…
PARIS—Following the fatal terrorist attack Wednesday at the offices of French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, sources confirmed this afternoon that it is sadly not yet clear whether this very article will ultimately put human lives at risk. According to totally and utterly depressing early reports, given the tragic deaths of 12 people, it is impossible to…
Is ‘authenticity’ another word for exclusion? The tech and design industries, like Portlandia, are worryingly minority-f… Brooklyn Beta vs. Afro-Futurism — Human Parts — Medium.
An explosion outside an NAACP office building in Colorado on Tuesday morning that rattled neighbors was caused deliberately, officials say. An improvised explosive device was detonated against the exterior wall of the NAACP building on South El Paso Street in Colorado Springs around 10:45 a.m. Mountain time. No one was injured, said Amy Sanders, a…