So here’s a perfect example of how actually-important political debates get lost in the haze of useless slapfights, observe David Corn vs. Bill O’Reilly on the subject not of foreign policy or really even media ethics but the personal integrity of Bill O’Reilly. Sure, I’m happy to see a lying blowhard get called out in […]

I have, for same reason, spent a couple hours on Fusion tonight. (.net, teehee.) And, you know, as much as I might want to make light of Felix Salmon’s cool guy Monty Burns routine, the site itself is… fine. It’s fine! I mean, it’s whatever. Fine is fine. But it just isn’t about anything in the way that […]

1. Of course I take the question of European anti-Semitism seriously. And taking that question seriously involves discussing it responsibly, and discussing it responsibly means meeting an evidentiary basis. It’s a mark of how unhealthy our conversation about this topic is that discussion of that evidentiary basis occurs under the shadow of threat, threat of being […]

Something weird is going on in this Kashann Kilson piece, and I think understanding it is key to understanding the progressive side of our media class. Kilson writes what is, in many ways, a paint-by-numbers “Iggy Azalea and Race” column, which has become a cottage industry in liberal circles. (If you’re a young liberal writer […]

This piece on the annoying internet genre of the “Perfect Response” is worth your time. If anything, Adam Sternbergh’s analysis would work on a bit of a broader level than he says. He’s right that the Perfect Response is a fantasy, and one that reflects a depressing tendency for people to see wit and clarity […]

I have a relationship of mutual antagonism towards many people in the world of professional political writing and commentary. This isn’t personal, though some think it is, but rather a reflection of my criticisms of the basic economic incentives of professional writing in its current era. For this reason, I often don’t know how to […]

Via Gawker, a private equity firm that is massively invested in for-profit colleges has purchased a controlling stake in Inside Higher Ed, a publication that covers colleges and universities. That’s about as direct a conflict of interest as you can get. 1. Inside Higher Ed should not be trusted as a source of legitimate news about for-profit […]

The Atlantic recently printed a sensationalistic story about the perceived difficulty for even the highest-achieving poor minority students to get into the City University of New York system. The article reflected on a claimed general trend but focused significantly on an individual student. CUNY objected to some of the article’s claims, and a minor correction was […]