Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
In real life, nobody has the decency to realize that they’re the bad guy until it’s too late. The worst thing about the historical record is that it is usually written after the fact. Just think, if we could only get our hands on advance copies of tomorrow’s historical bestsellers, we could work out once and…
Credit Daniel Zender I’ve been studying Americans’ accelerating penchant for blending the fantastical into the real world — from Disneyland to reality TV, from themed restaurants to war re-enactments to ubiquitous porn to Burning Man. So I started seeing evidence of the phenomenon in some very unlikely places — such as the excessive police response…
close story-meta Photo Police lined up near an armored vehicle during clashes with protesters in Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014. Credit Whitney Curtis for The New York Times WASHINGTON — Police departments will now have access to military surplus equipment typically used in warfare, including grenade launchers, armored vehicles and bayonets, Attorney General Jeff Sessions…
The catastrophic weather in Texas has thrown the spotlight on the federal government’s troubled flood insurance program, which is nearly $25 billion in debt after huge payouts following Katrina, Sandy and other devastating hurricanes. But as Houston starts the long process of recovering, lobbyists in Washington have already maneuvered to slow lawmakers efforts’ to overhaul…
Did you hear the one about Jeff Sessions? I’d like to tell you, but I can’t. You see, it’s illegal to laugh at the attorney general, the man who on Tuesday morning announced that the 800,000 “dreamers” — immigrants brought here illegally as children — could soon be deported. If you were to find my…
Nine percent of Americans said holding neo-Nazi or white supremacist views is acceptable, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday. The results of the survey come as the White House continues to field the fallout from President Trump’s comments following a white supremacist rally that left one counterprotester dead and numerous others injured earlier…
Even though she’s been wiped clean from the web, I still found Nicole Mincey. The Nicole Mincey who was personally thanked by President Trump on Twitter over the weekend. The one everyone thinks is a bot. She’s a real person—with a slightly different name—living in Newark, New Jersey. The online phone number listed for the…
Let’s Talk About “White People Facing the Most Discrimination” and Other Insane Trump Voter Fallacies It has been more than two years since Donald Trump first descended the escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president, but that doesn’t mean the majority of Americans are any closer to understanding the mentality of his…
Long Reads is a bimonthly feature, showcasing long-form essays. The Internet has been raging in the wake of the Charlottesville, Virginia tragedy on a recent Saturday afternoon at the Unite The Right rally — an event organized to unite white nationalist, alt-right, white supremacist, far-right militia, neo-nazi, and neo-confederate organizations. The groups gathered to protest…
As Confederate statues come down across the American South, there is a question of what to do with them once they’ve fallen. Should these metal and stone colossuses be melted down and broken up? Discarded? Should the wishes of those who, like President Trump, see sentimental and historical value in the statues, be respected? And…