What I’m Reading
The Intercept lays out the Orwellian turns-of-phrase and restrictions on language that they demand of their writers when reporting on Israel and Palestine. Notably, references to “Palestine” are discouraged and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Verified pro-Nazi X accounts flourish under Elon Musk
I am Terminally Online and if you’re reading this, odds are you are too, which means that the Nazification of Twitter is not news to you. Still, I present this article so that you can send it to your Gen X, Boomer, or sane/not online friends and family who are not aware of Elon Musk buddy buddying with Nazis or the proliferation of white nationalist/Nazi accounts online.
California won't prosecute LAPD officer who shot teenage girl in store's dressing room
Such horrors should never be surprising, but they’re still worth reading about.
Politico is one of the more insidery DC-based news publications in the country. I value their insight on the inner-making of politics, but not necessarily their conclusions — it’s good to see how the sausage is made. Politico was purchased by a German media company, Axel Springer, in October of 2021. Back in Europe, Axel Springer employees are made to sign a pledge to defend not just democracy and a united Europe, but the state of Israel, although US employees of Politico have not had to sign a similar document. This article in Semafor untangles the connections between the Trump admin and the German side of Axel Springer, as well as the company’s preparations for a possible Trump victory in 2024.
My Night Among Bari Weiss’s Free Speech Warriors
Over the course of her exhausting tenure on The New York Times’ opinion page, Bari Weiss was very unsubtle about her right-wing sympathies. Weiss seemed eager to get “canceled” by the Times, but when they wouldn’t fire her, she rage-quit in a fit and she self-published her resignation before creating a non-accredited “college”, The University of Austin, whose guiding principles amount to anti-wokeness. The New Republic sent someone to Weiss’ sham of an educational institution to report on a recent debate on immigration featuring right-wing ghoul, Ann Coulter, and former New York Post columnist, Sohrab Ahmari. As expected, Coulter’s POV is vile and openly racist, whereas Ahmari’s anti-immigration rationale claims to protect legal immigrants already in the US. The quote I’ve highlighted below is not one I necessarily agree with, but I appreciated the author making the connection between suffering and policy.
The Man Who Killed Google Search
The functionality of Google has declined significantly in recent years. The reasons for it aren’t very surprising, but Ed Zitron lays them out in detail: Google has sidelined the people who developed the functional aspects of their namesake’s search engine in favor of profit-minded and ex-McKinsey people.
I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Don’t Believe What You’re Being Told About ‘Campus Antisemitism’
Many years ago when Tommy and I played in Cult Vacation, we met Jonathan Ben-Menachem when his band played Sarah Lawrence College’s Springfest. I’ve been a Twitter mutual of Jonathan’s for a few years now because of his writing and insights into labor and economic policy in the US. Jonathan has been an outspoken voice against Israeli violence for as long as I’ve followed him and his advocacy since Israel’s exterminationist campaign in Gaza has been commendable. Jonathan is a PhD student at Columbia University and he published an article about his experiences as a Jewish student partaking in protests and demonstrations demanding Columbia’s divestment from companies that fund Israel’s war in Gaza. Jonathan has been attacked relentlessly on Twitter by people who do and do not know he is Jewish. These people will variously refer to him as a kapo, a self-hating Jew, or a Nazi, or question his sincerity and/or intelligence. I personally think Jonathan is quite brave and it’s been an absolute mindfuck seeing prominent Twitter commentators, like, say, Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall, attack or belittle Jonathan and his views. I highly recommend you read Jonathan’s piece and if you have friends or family who believe that protests at Columbia are creating an unsafe environment for Jewish students, you should send them this piece.
“The Bulldozer Kept Coming”: A Girl Stares Down Death in Gaza
The bravery of this teenager and her family in Gaza deserves to be told in her words, not mine, so I’ll shut up now.
What I’m Eating
This morning, I woke up on the shores of Norway’s Hardanger Fjord. As I type, I can look out the window and gaze upon a large body of water, a few small islands in the distance, and snow-capped mountains. About an hour ago, my friend, John David, and I began our day with a couple of slices of buttered bread topped with brunost, a brown cheese that is a staple of Norwegian food. Brunost is a soft, whey-based cheese with notes of butter and caramel. It consists of milk, whey, and cream, and the milk sugars turn into caramel when heated up, which give it this characteristic flavor.
Later today, John David and our other friend Nic are going to a local sushi spot that uses fish exclusively from the Hardanger Fjord. In a future post, I’ll have more expansive thoughts on that meal and the other foods I consumed on this trip to Norway.