Latest posts

  • The Sniper, the Spin, and the Smell Test in Dallas

    The Sniper, the Spin, and the Smell Test in Dallas

    The truth is that political violence is always a tragedy. That should not need disclaiming, but in our era of algorithmic outrage, you practically have to lead with a notarized certificate of sincerity before you dare analyze an event. So let’s start there: what happened at the Dallas ICE field office was horrific. One detainee

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  • Elon Musk and the Free-Speech Flamethrower: How One Billionaire Turned Tragedy Into Trending Content

    Elon Musk and the Free-Speech Flamethrower: How One Billionaire Turned Tragedy Into Trending Content

    Charlie Kirk is dead, felled by a bullet that cracked open the already brittle shell of American politics. A tragedy, a headline, an FBI investigation with reward money stapled to it. And then, like clockwork, Elon Musk did what Elon Musk always does: treated the entire ordeal as if it were just another opportunity to

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  • Jimmy Kimmel Live, Dead, and Resurrected: Disney, the FCC, and America’s New Speech Test

    Jimmy Kimmel Live, Dead, and Resurrected: Disney, the FCC, and America’s New Speech Test

    Disney can reanimate cartoon deer and resurrect billion-dollar franchises, but even they didn’t think they’d have to stage a primetime Lazarus trick for Jimmy Kimmel. Yet here we are. After an extraordinary two-week suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!—a late-night show that once got canceled only for recycling too many “Matt Damon” bits—Disney announced the show

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  • How Trump Invented the Two-Tiered System of Human Decency

    How Trump Invented the Two-Tiered System of Human Decency

    The Scene at Glendale The memorial for Charlie Kirk was never going to be quiet. A man whose career thrived on microphones and grievance could hardly be remembered in whispers. So when President Donald Trump stood at the podium in Glendale and declared that this was a time for “respect” and “civility,” it was almost

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  • The Stadium as Cathedral: Charlie Kirk’s Resurrection Tour

    The Stadium as Cathedral: Charlie Kirk’s Resurrection Tour

    America has never been subtle about grief. We brand it, stream it, and sell t-shirts out of the trunk. But even for a country that once turned the O.J. trial into a daytime soap, what happened inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale was… operatic. Or maybe that’s too generous—let’s call it what it was: a

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  • Charlie Kirk: The First Time the GOP Has Cared About a School Shooting

    Charlie Kirk: The First Time the GOP Has Cared About a School Shooting

    They say tragedy unites. They also say power corrupts. In America right now, we’re seeing how the former becomes the latter—fast. Because in the days following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Republicans escalated their post-martyr politics from solemn resolutions in Congress all the way into statehouses, into speech bills, statues, free speech holidays, and threats of passport

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  • The President as Prosecutor-in-Chief: A Republic If You Can Keep It

    The President as Prosecutor-in-Chief: A Republic If You Can Keep It

    If you thought American democracy was fragile before, buckle up. On September 20, 2025, President Donald Trump took to his beloved sandbox, Truth Social, and delivered what can only be described as a digital tantrum dressed up as a presidential directive. “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” he thundered, typing like a Red Bull–fueled intern at

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  • When Congress Governs by Split Screen

    When Congress Governs by Split Screen

    Democracy has always been a little theatrical. The marble halls, the pomp, the roll calls delivered like Broadway overtures—it’s part politics, part melodrama, part daytime soap. But lately the Capitol has taken the metaphor too literally. On one screen: a government funding bill collapsing in the Senate. On the other: a resolution sanctifying Charlie Kirk,

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  • America’s H-1B Visa Paywall: $100,000 to Enter, Please Remove Your Shoes

    America’s H-1B Visa Paywall: $100,000 to Enter, Please Remove Your Shoes

    The United States has many traditions: fireworks on the Fourth, pumpkin spice in the fall, and quietly re-engineering its immigration system with the grace of a demolition derby. This week’s entry comes courtesy of President Donald Trump, who signed a proclamation adding a $100,000 fee to accompany—or maybe supplement, or maybe just vaguely menace—every H-1B

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  • The American Love Affair With ARs: From Domestic Disputes to Funeral Processions

    The American Love Affair With ARs: From Domestic Disputes to Funeral Processions

    A Familiar Script Another day, another “isolated incident” that looks exactly like every other one. A young man, a domestic violence record, a weapon designed for war, and a police force walking into a house in North Codorus Township. The ending, like all the others, is a chalk outline in triplicate. Three detectives dead, two

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