@trenthead

Month: October 2021

  • Kyle Rittenhouse and the New Era of Political Violence – The New York Times

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    Kyle Rittenhouse and the New Era of Political Violence (Published 2021) What brought the teenager and so many others to the streets of Kenosha, Wis., equipped for war? Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/magazine/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-wisconsin.html “I didn’t recognize Kenosha,” Alvin D. Owens told me, recalling the scene at the Civic Center that night. More to the point, he said, “I…

  • Facebook Papers Show Employees Raised Concerns About Misinformation – The New York Times

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    Internal Alarm, Public Shrugs: Facebook’s Employees Dissect Its Election Role (Published 2021) Company documents show that the social network’s employees repeatedly raised red flags about the spread of misinformation and conspiracies before and after the contested November vote. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/technology/facebook-election-misinformation.html Sixteen months before last November’s presidential election, a researcher at Facebook described an alarming development.…

  • The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism – by Michael Hobbes – Confirm My Choices

    The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism – by Michael Hobbes – Confirm My Choices

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    The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism Scare stories on “left-wing illiberalism” display a familiar pattern. Link: https://michaelhobbes.substack.com/p/moral-panic-journalism The media has tremendous power to shape public opinion. Reporters and editors should not just be aware of their ability to spread moral panics. They should be terrified of it.

  • Who Gets to Escape the Taliban | The New Yorker

    Who Gets to Escape the Taliban | The New Yorker

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    Who Gets to Escape the Taliban The chaotic American withdrawal forced individual soldiers, aid workers, and journalists to decide which Afghans would be saved. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/who-gets-to-escape-the-taliban What became apparent at the gates of the Baron is that there was no American strategy for leaving Afghanistan—none that considered the future of the Afghans…

  • India Evicts Muslims in Assam, Even Those Living There Legally – The New York Times

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    Amid Flames and Gunfire, They Were Evicted From Where They Called Home (Published 2021) Critics say an Indian state’s campaign to expel longtime residents on government land marks the ruling party’s latest campaign against Muslims. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/world/asia/india-assam-muslim-evictions.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=World%20News They swarmed into his village, wielding sticks, to beat up participants in what local residents described as a…

  • At Axel Springer, Politico’s New Owner, Allegations of Sex, Lies and a Secret Payment – The New York Times

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    At Axel Springer, Politico’s New Owner, Allegations of Sex, Lies and a Secret Payment (Published 2021) A high-flying German media giant is ahead on digital media but seems stuck in the past when it comes to the workplace and deal-making. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/business/media/axel-springer-bild-julian-reichelt.html Mr. Döpfner, who once described himself “a mixture of aesthete and carpet salesman,”…

  • Ghostwriting – Study Hall

    Ghostwriting – Study Hall

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    Ghostwriting Until late this summer, I worked as a senior producer at a company that made podcasts for clients and media partners. I quit, in part, because I saw how far my ideas could go without my name attached Link: https://studyhall.xyz/ghostwriting/ When you buy into the myth of the singular genius, it becomes unseemly that…

  • Dave Chappelle’s Betrayal | GQ

    Dave Chappelle’s Betrayal | GQ

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    Dave Chappelle’s Betrayal Poet Saeed Jones used to consider himself a longtime fan of the comedian. But Chappelle’s new Netflix special “The Closer,” which fixates on gay and trans people, feels like a stab in the back. via GQ: https://www.gq.com/story/chappelle-the-closer That’s the gag, Dave. I thought when you got free, if you decided to come…

  • Erik Prince Planned to Create Private Army in Ukraine: Exclusive | Time

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    Exclusive: Documents Reveal Erik Prince’s $10 Billion Plan to Make Weapons and Create a Private Army in Ukraine Documents obtained exclusively by TIME reveal the American businessman’s ambitious plans to take over Ukraine’s military industry. via Time: https://time.com/6076035/erik-prince-ukraine-private-army/ At least one of Prince’s offers to Ukraine appeared to be in line with U.S. geopolitical interests.…

  • One by One, My Friends Were Sent to the Camps – The Atlantic

    One by One, My Friends Were Sent to the Camps – The Atlantic

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    One by One, My Friends Were Sent to the Camps What is it like to live through—and escape—the Uyghur genocide? Tahir Hamut Izgil tells his family’s story in an unprecedented, five-part series. via The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/the-uyghur-chronicles/ The Chinese government’s mass internment of Uyghurs was in full swing. This campaign had begun in Kashgar, Khotan, and…

  • The Nobel Peace Prize Acknowledges a Dangerous Era for Journalists | The New Yorker

    The Nobel Peace Prize Acknowledges a Dangerous Era for Journalists | The New Yorker

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    The Nobel Peace Prize Acknowledges a Dangerous Era for Journalists The co-winner, Dmitry Muratov, is the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, which has lost more journalists to murder than any other Russian news outlet. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-nobel-peace-prize-acknowledges-a-dangerous-era-for-journalists When I asked Muratov what he thought he got the prize for, he told me, instead, who…

  • A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Woman

    A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Woman

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    A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Woman Patricia Highsmith’s diaries and notebooks chart her early work and love life. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/04/a-portrait-of-the-writer-as-a-young-woman 5/15/48: Please try to notice if every artist isn’t ruthless in some way. Even the sweetest of characters have done something, generally because of their creative life, that to the…

  • When public health becomes the public enemy

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    When public health becomes the public enemy Far-right extremists are robbing the West of the officials who protect community health. Link: https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.10/north-extremism-when-public-health-becomes-the-public-enemy-community Shortly after, board member Michael Nicosia resigned, writing in a letter that he could not, “in good conscience, continue to serve as a member of the Board of Health alongside Dr. Bukacek.” Board…

  • The Secrets of The World’s Greatest Freediver

    The Secrets of The World’s Greatest Freediver

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    The Secrets of The World’s Greatest Freediver With only a single breath, Alexey Molchanov, history’s most daring freediver, is reaching improbable depths—and discovering a new kind of enlightenment as he conquers one of the world’s wildest sports. via GQ: https://www.gq.com/story/freediver-alexey-molchanov-profile This is the point of freediving. At least the competitive point. And here in the…

  • Truth and Consequences – The Drift

    Truth and Consequences – The Drift

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    Truth and Consequences Documentaries and the Art of Manipulation via The Drift: https://www.thedriftmag.com/truth-and-consequences/ The filmmakers had turned over the raw production audio, and the full transcript revealed that the smoking-gun quote did not really exist. The filmmakers had re-ordered his words and removed other sentences in between, splicing together what had potentially been two disparate…

  • What if You’d Known We Were All So Crazy?

    What if You’d Known We Were All So Crazy?

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    What if You’d Known We Were All So Crazy? A diary of 2016—the year of Trump, Brexit, and Carol the fox. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/what-if-youd-known-we-were-all-so-crazy A number of people responded to the post, including this guy: “OK, I am a little confused. A planet ‘behind’ the sun? One that people who lived 6,000 years…

  • The Ship That Became a Bomb

    The Ship That Became a Bomb

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    The Ship That Became a Bomb Stranded in Yemen’s war zone, a decaying supertanker has more than a million barrels of oil aboard. If—or when—it explodes or sinks, thousands may die. via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/the-ship-that-became-a-bomb A vessel without power is known as a dead ship. The Safer died in 2017, when its steam boilers…

  • [Essay] “Put on the Diamonds”, By Vivian Gornick | Harper’s Magazine

    [Essay] “Put on the Diamonds”, By Vivian Gornick | Harper’s Magazine

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    “Put on the Diamonds”, by Vivian Gornick Notes on humiliation via Harper’s Magazine : https://harpers.org/archive/2021/10/put-on-the-diamonds-notes-on-humiliation-vivian-gornick/ Anton Chekhov once observed that the worst thing life can do to human beings is to inflict humiliation. Nothing, nothing, nothing in the world can destroy the soul as much as outright humiliation. Every other infliction can eventually be withstood or…

  • Gannett and the Death of Local Newspapers – The Atlantic

    Gannett and the Death of Local Newspapers – The Atlantic

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    What We Lost When Gannett Came to Town We don’t often talk about how a paper’s collapse makes people feel: less connected, more alone. via The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/10/gannett-local-newspaper-hawk-eye-iowa/619847/ Alison started shouting out assignments. Matt Gallo should head to the hospital; Susan Fisher and Mike Sweet should drive downtown for man-on-the-street interviews; Steve Delaney, Tony Miller,…

  • Who Is the Bad Art Friend?

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    Who Is the Bad Art Friend? (Published 2021) Art often draws inspiration from life — but what happens when it’s your life? Inside the curious case of Dawn Dorland v. Sonya Larson. Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/magazine/dorland-v-larson.html This had become Sonya Larson’s summer of hell. What had started with her reaching heights she’d never dreamed of — an…