When the history of “woke” attitudes, sentiments, and policies is written, two events of different kinds and magnitude will be remembered. Both took place in the San Francisco Bay Area in the past week. The first and by far the most important is the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which did not collapse from wokeness […]
Political Animal
Posted inPolitics
The Case for Keeping Enhanced Surveillance Authority
The MAGA Trump Right and the Greenwald Left want to undo Section 702, which must be renewed this year. Normies in both parties shouldn’t let them.
Posted inPolitics
Thirteenth Amendment Abortion Rights and the Job of a Judge
Critics on the left and right pounced on a jurist for hearing arguments about whether the Civil War-era amendment provides a right to abortion. Here’s why they’re wrong.
Posted inPolitics
China’s War for Hearts and Minds
Far from being an unstoppable juggernaut, Beijing’s global media campaign to promote its interests has had uneven results. Consider China’s efforts to sway Malaysia.
Posted inPolitics
Pence to Trump: I Just Can’t Quit You
The special counsel demands that he testify but the former veep refuses—on dubious legal grounds—to fully break with the man who would have let him hang.
Posted inPolitics
After Biden’s Visit to Kyiv, Ukrainians Welcome U.S. Aid but Plead for More
Four Ukrainians I’ve gotten to know in the past year are diplomatic but firm. They need additional arms and know their fate is in the hands of a divided Washington.
Posted inBooks
How We Mourn Our Presidents
An anticipated new collection shows that when the nation buries a current or former president, it reveals much about America at the moment of their passing.
Posted inPolitics
McCarthy, Biden, and the Washington Snub
The House Speaker is reportedly still angry over a two-year-old incident with the president. It reminds anthropologists studying capital culture that real or perceived slights can drive policy and politics.
Posted inPolitics
“A New Model of Democracy”
Yale scholar Hélène Landemore has helped France with their government-established but citizen-run panels that recommend policies to the country’s legislature. One day, Landemore hopes, these assemblies will enact policy, too. Will her “open democracy” ideas sell in America?
Posted inPolitics
Biden Concedes Nothing in His State of the Union Address
A deft, defiant Democratic president outfoxes the Republicans in front of the nation and smartly stresses antitrust and consumer rights.
