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The Election That Could Break America
If the vote is close, Donald Trump could easily throw the election into chaos and subvert the result. Who will stop him?
Judith Shulevitz
This is urgent. Trump's team is hiring 50,000 people to be poll watchers this year. SIGN UP TO BE A POLL WATCHER. Go to your local county election office website and find out how to apply. (There will be a lot of bureaucracy. Persist.)
7d
Health experts evaluate college reopenings
Some health experts push back against an undercurrent of pessimism about college reopenings.
Why Is the West So Powerful—And So Peculiar?
Cultural evolutionary theory has a startling answer: a marriage policy first pursued by the Catholic Church a millennium and a half ago.
Judith Shulevitz
In his new “theory-of-everything” book, the scholar Joseph Henrich has a tricky ambition, @JudithShulevitz writes: “to account for Western distinctiveness while undercutting Western arrogance.”
19d
Vargas Llosa y otras 100 firmas apoyan el manifiesto Harper's por la democracia
La reacción ha empujado a un grupo diverso de científicos, académicos, escritores y periodistas españoles a lanzar una carta de apoyo
Judith Shulevitz
"Vargas Llosa and more than 100 signatories support the Harper’s manifesto for democracy"
Title of letter published by Spanish-speaking intellectuals on El Confidential, a Spanish news site. Practice your Spanish skills!
73d
Schools Beat Earlier Plagues With Outdoor Classes. We Should, Too.
A century ago, children in New York City attended classes during a pandemic. It seemed to work.
Ohio GOP Lawmaker Claims COVID-19 Tests Are ‘Dictatorship’ Conspiracy — ‘Stop Getting Tested!’
Ohio state Rep. Nino Vitale (R) on Tuesday encouraged his constituents to “stop getting tested” for COVID-19.
Judith Shulevitz
The GOP really has become a death cult.
(I didn't make up that phrase but can't remember where I heard it, so h/t to whomever did.)
85d
A Letter on Justice and Open Debate | Harper's Magazine
The below letter will be appearing in the Letters section of the magazine’s October issue. We welcome responses at [email protected] Our cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial. Powerful protests for racial and social justice are...
Here’s who’s to blame for Tuesday’s disenfranchisement
As Tuesday’s congressional and state legislative primaries approached, many politically engaged New Yorkers have confronted the reality that they will not be able to vote. Due to widespread failures in their local election boards – and a governor...
meme | Definition, History, & Facts
Meme, unit of cultural information spread by imitation. The term ‘meme’ (from the Greek ‘mimema,’ meaning ‘imitated’) was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his work The Selfish Gene. Learn more about the history...
Judith Shulevitz
If I were a meme theorist (of the evolutionary-biology variety) I'd speculate that Trump won't wear a mask because he himself is a virus, a cultural replicator, a selfish meme that like the selfish gene is dedicated exclusively to its own reproduction.
104d
Our New Polling Averages Show Biden Leads Trump By 9 Points Nationally
But the race is closer in swing states, which could allow Trump to win the Electoral College if the race tightens.
A Run on the Catskills
New Yorkers desperate for more space and fresh air are driving prices up in the mountains north of the city.
Judith Shulevitz
We promise to be nice to you city transplants, as long as you remember to register to vote up here by September and get your absentee ballot in on time.
105d
Evolutionary Psychology's Anti-Semite
What scares people about the trial going on in London over whether Jewish historian Deborah Lipstadt libeled Holocaust denier David Irving by calling...
Judith Shulevitz
I did a good job eviscerating Kevin McDonald way back when, while @tabletmag’s David Samuels let McDonald play him for a fool. But I still learned a lot. So I ask you, @EstherSolomon, criticize the piece. Don’t call for censorship.
105d
J.M. Coetzee’s Jesus Sees the World as Don Quixote Does
“The Death of Jesus,” the final novel in a trilogy, is a modern fable that challenges our limited understanding of reality.
Why Mitch McConnell Wants States to Go Bankrupt
The Senate majority leader is prioritizing the Republican Party rather than the American people during this crisis.
Judith Shulevitz
Well, I thought McConnell had finally lost his mind, but David Frum proves that he was just being his usual evil self.
158d
Trump health spokesman tweets about Soros and Rothschild family ‘control’
Michael Caputo disparaged frequent Trump critic David Rothschild, a New York economist who is not related to the famed European family.
Judith Shulevitz
Trump health spokesman tweets about Soros and Rothschild family ‘control’ jd.fo/UbLl via @jdforward
160d
The Problem with the Rush to Reopen - The Bulwark
Trump says some states can end their shutdowns “literally tomorrow.” But those states have not yet shown a clear downward trajectory in new COVID-19 cases.
Trump calls protesters against stay-at-home orders 'very responsible'
President tweeted that Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia should be ‘liberated’ after demonstrations against social distancing