Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
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Here’s what you have to understand about the sort of people who become anchors, nonpartisan pundits, centrist columnists, and cable news political correspondents: They didn’t sign up to be the resistance. They don’t want Donald Trump to fail. They want him to “pivot” and “act presidential.” Yeah, there are guys (and it is guys, for…
John McCain—the original Maverick, ol’ Walnuts, the brave teller of truths—is somehow once again positioning himself, to credulous journalists, as a renegade Republican who isn’t afraid to buck his party, despite his three-decade record of not ever actually bucking his party in any meaningful way. “John McCain just systematically dismantled Donald Trump’s entire worldview,” the…
At a time when affordable housing is a national urban crisis, we usually turn to precious, self-righteous burgs like San Francisco for the most atrocious examples of NIMBYism. But now, Los Angeles may have them all beat. On March 7, L.A. voters will vote on “Measure S,” which would impost a moratorium on all development…
“CEO” is a term for someone who is paid more money than you because they are able to project a large degree of confidence about their wrong ideas. Don’t take my word for it—it’s science! The duties of CEOs vary somewhat from company to company, but they all have a few things in common: They…
Image by Jim Cooke, photo via Getty Even among all the billionaires, ideologues, and straight-up racist goons Donald Trump has nominated for his cabinet, Betsy DeVos, who was confirmed earlier this week as the Secretary of Education, stands out for how seemingly unqualified she is. As the doomed critics of her nomination were quick to…
JFK with no taxis, via NYTWA There’s a bigger lesson here than “Fuck Uber.” By now you may be familiar with the outlines of this story: On Saturday evening, after Trump’s Muslim ban was announced, thousands of protesters began to gather at New York’s JFK airport. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance—the union for an…
Art by Jim Cooke Yes, wear a shirt with a slogan on it. Yes, put a bumper sticker on your car. Yes, flood your social media feed with your outrage. Fine. All of those are fine, and necessary, and good. But also: Call your senator. Call your congressperson. Call your governor. Call your alderperson, your…
Image by Jim Cooke Realistically, there is only one way out of our predicament. We know that we live in an age of staggering economic inequality. The top 10% of earners now take in nearly half of all our national income, a portion that has been rising steadily since the Reagan era. Meanwhile, the average…
Photo credit: Pablo Martinez/AP Get a load of these sorry quisling motherfuckers. The reviews are in for insane lying press secretary Sean Spicer’s second performance as the bullhorn of America’s new illegitimate white-nationalist government, and here are Washington Post staffers Chris Cillizza and Karen Tumulty—reporters, at least nominally, for one of the most powerful press…
On inauguration day in DC, the souvenir business was slow. I asked a vendor wearing a huge Bob Marley hoodie while hawking Trump hats and scarves and keychains whether he might not have had better luck selling Obama gear, and he shrugged. “It’s too late.” But he also said: “Tomorrow.” Tomorrow! You lie and I…