uspolitics

this was not good. it could have been about 80% shorter and still made all of its non-points. not recommended.

notes bookshop link this kept cropping up in the stuff i’ve been reading over the past couple of months. i figured it was time to dig into this again. i read this last in the 1990s. the book holds up extremely well and the mass suspension of critical thought and utopian dystopia it describes seems like something we’ve done a great job of slipping into ever more firmly over the past 10 years....

links, etc American Kakistocracy the atlantic’s considered take on how trump’s grafting wrong. Berlusconi’s shortcomings helped fuel his success, but he wasn’t proud of them. Trump wears his flaws like medals, and is appointing people to his coming administration who have the same attitude. Berlusconi would never have allowed the equivalent of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. near Italy’s department of health. An Italian Matt Gaetz would have been considered for a reality show on one of Berlusconi’s TV channels, at most....

links, etc Trust in scientists hasn’t recovered from COVID. Some humility could help. - Ars Technica some humility and empathy from the “in this house we believe in science” households might be warranted here as well.

notes bookshop link this was a disturbingly current read. it’s reasonably fresh off the press and i wrapped it up a couple of days before the election. it’s an exhaustively researched and referenced work that digs into the politically charged battles over education and the desire to create a glossy, positive history from those on the right. there’s a lot to unpack in this book despite it’s pretty short length. it ranges from discussing the german repackaging of history pre-WW2 to florida’s book bans and dismantling of their instutuions of higher education....