Category Archives: Opinion

Commentary Magazine – October 2024 Preview

Commentary Magazine – A Jewish magazine of politics, high culture, cultural  and literary criticism, American and Israeli campaigns and elections, and  world affairs.

Commentary Magazine (March 15, 2024) The latest issue features “Israel And Ukraine” – Why won’t we let them win?

Why Won’t We Let Ukraine Win?

by Abe Greenwald

…the U.S. has been too slow in arming its ally, too restrictive in setting conditions on the use of weapons, and generally too fearful of Vladimir Putin’s threats. The result is that Ukraine, for all its unfathomable courage and boundless ingenuity, has been permitted to fight, but not win, the war. If this keeps up, Ukraine could actually lose. 

Mark Zuckerberg Is Just So Very Sorry, You Guys

by James B. Meigs

When I step back a bit, I can see that Zuckerberg isn’t just haplessly begging our forgiveness. He’s trying to save his business. Meta Platforms, the company he controls, contains some of the world’s most widely used and profitable digital brands, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Meta appears to be thriving, with its stock price more than quadrupling since a rocky 2022. But Zuckerberg knows that his company’s brands are built on foundations of sand. Just as a sandbar will move with tides, the user base of any social platform can drift away in a surprisingly short time.

The Harris Shuffle

by Matthew Continetti

This is Harris’s challenge: She’s the incumbent vice president running for higher office in a change election. She’s an undefined candidate whose positions and job performance are vulnerable to attack. She wants to be seen as a disruptor while remaining loyal to President Biden. And she wants to move away from the far-left views she held as a senator while she continues to proclaim that her values have stayed the same.

The New York Times Magazine – Sept. 15, 2024

Current cover

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (September 13, 2024): The latest issue features Sasha Weiss on the Prince we never knew; Ben Hubbard on a U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees; Giles Harvey on the writer Tony Tulathimutte; and more.

The Prince We Never Knew

A revealing new documentary could redefine our understanding of the pop icon. But you will probably never get to see it.

How a U.N. Agency Became a Flashpoint in the Gaza War

UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, has survived 75 years of Israeli-Palestinian strife. Can it survive the latest conflict?

An Acerbic Young Writer Takes Aim at the Identity Era

Tony Tulathimutte is a master comedian whose original and highly disturbing new book skewers liberal pieties. By Giles Harvey

The Economist Magazine – September 14, 2024 Preview

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The Economist Magazine (September 12, 2024): The latest issue features How ugly will it get?

America’s election is mired in conflict

Donald Trump’s conspiracy machine is already gearing up for election night

Is Labour in thrall to the unions?

They agree on the labour market above all

Danger in the South China Sea

A new stage in the conflict is beginning

Getting Europe to grow

Mario Draghi, the continent’s unofficial chief technocrat, has a plan

Breast milk: the motherlode

Some of its myriad components are being tested as treatments for cancer and other diseases

Arts/Politics: The Atlantic Magazine – October 2024

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The Atlantic Magazine – September 9, 2024: The latest issue features Trump’s antidemocratic actions, and the Republican politicians who bent to his will

Hypocrisy, Spinelessness, and the Triumph of Donald Trump

illustration with abstract figures of yellow-haired figure in blue suit standing and extending orange hand with ring for kneeling figure in blue suit to kiss, on black background

He said Republican politicians would be easy to break. He was right.

Trump Promises a ‘Bloody Story’

His latest comments about mass deportation are a revelation about how he feels—and a troubling reminder of the sources of his appeal.

Finding Philanthropy’s Forgotten Founder

Julius Rosenwald understood that charity is not just about giving, but about fixing the inequalities that make giving necessary.

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Sept. 16, 2024

Surrounded by cats a woman reads in her apartment.

The New Yorker (September 9, 2024): The latest issue features Mark Ulriksen’s “Childless Cat Lady Inexplicably Enjoying Life” – The artist celebrates the subjects of J. D. Vance’s disparaging comments.

“In the Dark” Reports on the Lack of Accountability for a U.S. War Crime

The podcast investigates the events in Haditha, Iraq, and compiles a database to show the inherent problem of the military judging its own members. By Willing Davidson

Are Your Morals Too Good to Be True?

Scientists have shattered our self-image as principled beings, motivated by moral truths. Some wonder whether our ideals can survive the blow to our vanity. By Manvir Singh

Russia’s Espionage War in the Arctic

For years, Russia has been using the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, which borders its nuclear stronghold, as a laboratory, testing intelligence operations there before replicating them across Europe. By Ben Taub

The New York Times Magazine – Sept. 8, 2024

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (September 7, 2024): The latest issue features Caity Weaver on the tyranny of the American penny; Jordan Kisner on the future of the Shakers; Dan Kaufman on NAFTA and politics; and more.

America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny

How NAFTA Broke American Politics

Since its passage in 1993, the trade agreement has played an outsize role in presidential elections — which now often hinge on the three Rust Belt states it helped to hollow out.

There Are Only Two Shakers Left. They’ve Still Got Utopia in Their Sights.

Their numbers have dwindled, but the remaining members are imagining what comes next.By Jordan KisnerCreditLucas Foglia for The New York Times

Is It OK to Vote for My Third-Party Fave This Presidential Election?

The First Movie About Pop Music to Nail Its Mediocrity

The Economist Magazine – September 7, 2024 Preview

America’s killer cars

The Economist Magazine (September 5, 2024): The latest issue features America’s killer cars; China’s Looking-Glass economy; Germany’s radicals rise and Mexico’s democracy at risk…

Why is Starmer so timid on Europe?

The prime minister is trapped by the mindset of the post-Brexit years

America’s killer cars

The country’s roads are nearly twice as dangerous as the rich-world average. It doesn’t have to be that way

Germany’s radicals rise

As extremists win more votes across Europe, forming moderate and effective governments is getting harder

Where Elon Musk is right

Free expression has become a culture war, and those who should defend it are staying quiet

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Sept 9, 2024

While babysitting small kids at a park a woman shows another nanny who is wearing a yellow shirt and holding a pink...

The New Yorker (August 26, 2024): The latest issue features R. Kikuo Johnson’s “A Mother’s Work” – A glimpse into the lives of New York’s caretakers.


Do Celebrity Presidential Endorsements Matter?

It’s hard to empirically determine whether they drive voters to the polls. But they might have less measurable effects.

The Magazine for Mercenaries Enters Polite Society

Susan Katz Keating, the editor and publisher of Soldier of Fortune, discusses how she’s changing the publication and assesses the threat of political violence.

How Machines Learned to Discover Drugs

The A.I. revolution is coming to a pharmacy near you.

By Dhruv Khullar

The Economist Magazine – August 31, 2024 Preview

Sudan: Why its catastrophic war is the world’s problem

The Economist Magazine (August 29, 2024): The latest issue features

Sudan: Why its catastrophic war is the world’s problem

It could kill millions—and spread chaos across Africa and the Middle East

How to fix social care

Before reform and money comes courage

In praise of digital twins

Welcome to the mirror world

Nvidia envy

Two contradictions could stymie the AI chipmaker-in-chief

Time to pay for blood plasma

Shortages are hampering the production of essential medicines

Current Affairs: Prospect Magazine – October 2024

Prospect Magazine (July 11, 2024) The latest issue features ‘The New Fascism’ – Local authorities and the police are facing a globally organised far right they barely understand

The new fascism

Local authorities and the police are facing a globally organised far right they barely understand By Paul Mason

“I think the protests are great,” the far-right influencer James Goddard told subscribers to his Telegram channel, in a video the day after the Sunderland riot. “But we need to clean up the optics… Number one, please stay away from religious buildings, places of worship, mosques, Islamic centres. Just stay away from them. You’re going to cause a conflict that we don’t need to have… yet.”

The president’s crimes

The oldest constitution in the world was not made for the political culture of modern America. The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v United States is a symptom of its crisis

During the riots, we saw that solidarity is action

Standing in a huge crowd of counter-protesters, I’m more aware than ever that racist violence is part of a structural problem and an inevitable extension of mainstream Islamophobia