Here are links to my latest work, Daily Posts from the archives (May 26-30) in case you missed them, and articles, old and new, from around the internet. My aim is not to give you up to the minute news, but a historical understanding of our current times—too many people see everything going on as uniquely special to the current moment. You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook (I am not accepting new friends on the last platform, but you can use the “follow” option).
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Well, hello, hello, remember me?
I ask because there is ever so much amnesia floating around these days, my friends. Everyone is now yelling at the CDC because it ended recommendations for vaccines (in some groups), forgetting that Joe Biden ended the Bridge program—which made it possible for low-income and uninsured people to access them. A famous British writer has signed a statement calling for a ceasefire, with not one word about the fact that she once snipped and snarked at college protestors. Everyone’s praising Harvard as if it is the vanguard of the revolution, and conveniently forgetting that, actually, the storied institution has always been cooperating with the powers that be (see my previous Updates and below for more).
Over on her Substack, Heather Cox Richardson religiously criticises Trump’s new policies, in a version of history that conveniently forgets all the Democrat-led efforts to end “welfare as we know it,” and all the draconian anti-immigration measures undertaken by the Clintons and Obama. I will have more on her soon/ish because I do believe that she is a major reason why we are where we are.
If it’s a second Trump term, it must surely be another era of forgetting. But fear not, dear ones: some of us persist in reminding you that a lot of This Stuff has been going on for A Very Long Time. You might ask, “But whyyyyyyy should we dredge up the past?” Well, sweeties, because those who try to act like All This Shit Is New are doomed to Wade Through The Same Old Shit Over and Over Again.
Oh, and because it’s the liberals who keep wanting us to forget as they focus all their ire at Trump, and as you know, I think Liberalism must die.
Onwards.
NEW WORK!
When Gene Hackman died, I found myself in conversation with Mtume Gant about the actor’s long, stellar career and we somehow found ourselves talking about one of his best performances in what we think is Francis Ford Coppola’s best film, The Conversation. Here’s a link to the podcast; do listen and support Mtume!
Bernie Sanders went on a podcast and did his usual thing, of dismissing what he calls “identity politics.” So, of course, I had to respond, with “On Bernie Sanders and the Left’s Fantasy about Class.”
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FROM THE ARCHIVES!
This was just last week, but you might have missed in during the long holiday weekend, “Juliette Binoche and Orientalism at Cannes.”
“The Style It Takes or, The Difference Between Style and Fashion” (On Sex and the City and fashion, as a new season of And Just Like That has begun.)
“Sex and the City’s Soft White Supremacy”
“So Long, And Thanks for Nothing”
“A Better Son Or Daughter: Donald Trump, amnesia, and a capitalist fable”
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ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB!
Here’s Jenny Vyas on the mental health consequences of recent immigration crackdowns. I will add to this that it won’t just be immigrants who suffer: Americans are deeply connected to immigrant communities in ways that the right and even many on the left will not acknowledge. More on that later.
Everyone’s painting Harvard University as some kind of hero. But the ever watchful Crimson points out that, um, actually, Harvard has in fact shared data on international students.
Zadie Smith was among those who signed a letter for a ceasefire in Gaza. Apparently, she thought people would have forgotten that she once wrote an article chiding protestors for using words like “genocide.”
The New York Times once sued OpenAI for copyright infringement. But it’s okay with all that now, having just signed a deal with Amazon.
As New Yorkers brace themselves for a mayoral election, Nathan J. Robinson writes that Andrew Cuomo Is Worse Than You Even Know. Do read, and send along to all your New York friends.
Robert Kennedy’s CDC has stopped recommending the Covid vaccine for “healthy pregnant women,” but pregnancy is always fraught with danger for the mother. Here’s ProPublica on Covid stillbirths.
Are the Obamas losing their shine? We can only hope so.
Here’s a horrifying story about Korean parents losing their children to the adoption and trafficking industry.
Here’s Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s interview with Caro De Robertis, on trans elders.
This Guardian podcast interview with Gary Younge, “How To Not Get Pigeonholed as a Black Journalist” is essential for everyone in the media (regardless of your colour!).
Here’s Joseph Massad on why “Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Is a War on Demographics.”
“Project Esther Is a McCarthy-Era Blueprint for Crushing the American Left,” writes Schuyler Mitchell, in Truthout.
Here is Javier Bardem shutting down a sexist question about his wife, Penelope Cruz. Bernie Sanders and other dudebros should take notes: this is how you disengage from sexist pigs. (As I pointed out in my latest, “On Bernie Sanders and the Left’s Fantasy about Class,” he sat by while Andrew Schulz made a joke about girls needing to sleep with their teachers.)
Get some sleep, eat your veggies. I will see you next week.
You can find previous Updates here.
If you like this, please support my work.
Image: “Temple Sicilien” by Nicolas de Staël, 1953.
