Category Archives: Opinion

The Nation Magazine – January 2025 Preview

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The Nation Magazine (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Code Red’ – On election night, our screens were a sea of red, suggesting that the US was more conservative than ever. But sometimes maps can be deceiving…

The Dead Hand of the Democratic Consultant Class

Breaking the grip of grifters who refuse to learn or leave won’t be easy. But it is essential to effectively opposing the coming plutocracy.

The Difference That Matters Most Isn’t Between Left and Right

But between candidates who are defenders of the system and those who are anti-system. Democrats lost because they allowed Trump to be the only voice of antiestablishment rage.

Progressives Can’t Afford to Spend the Next 4 Years Just Playing Defense

Or reflexively denouncing every Trump policy. While we mustn’t underestimate the danger he poses to our democracy, when he says he wants to end war, the left should call his bluff.

The Atlantic Magazine – January 2025 Preview

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The Atlantic Magazine (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Seamus Heaney, My Father, and Me’ by Catlin Flanagan…

Walk on Air Against Your Better Judgment

What Seamus Heaney gave me

The Crumbling Foundation of America’s Military

The U.S. failed to produce weapons and ammunition fast enough to supply Ukraine. Could it equip its own armed forces in the event of war?

Maybe Democrats Didn’t Do So Badly After All

The party’s debate about reinventing itself after the election has gotten more complicated.

Politics/Opinion: Jacobin Magazine – Winter 2025

Jacobin Magazine (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Why Bidenism Failed’….

Bye Bye Bidenism

“You and [Franklin] Roosevelt begin from two different starting points. But is there not a relation in ideas, a kinship of ideas, be-tween Moscow and Washington? In Washington I was struck by the same thing I see going on here; they are building offices, they are creating a number of state regula-tion bodies, they are organising a long-needed Civil Service. 

Neoliberalism’s Hollow Promise of Freedom

Neoliberalism often presents itself as a victory for individual autonomy. In an interview, Grace Blakeley explains the hollowness of this claim — and why the Left needs to offer its own, better vision of human freedom.

UnitedHealth’s Unchecked Growth Has Caused Widespread Misery

Despite antitrust regulators’ efforts to rein it in, UnitedHealth Group has been growing to control ever more of the health care sector. The corporation’s expanding power has meant worse care, higher prices, and a mounting human toll.

News: Russia-Ukraine War At Turning Point, Israel Continuing Isolation

Monocle Radion (December 17, 2024): As reports emerge of significant losses to North Korean troops fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, we assess whether the war between Moscow and Kyiv is at a turning point. Then: Israel’s isolationism continues as it shutters its Dublin embassy.

Plus: transport changes in London, fashion news, ‘Forbes’ magazine opens a private-members’ club and we remember India’s legendary tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.

The Wall Street Journal —-December 17, 2024—-

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Syria’s Aspiring Leader Promises Reform—in Due Time

Rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani positioned himself as a statesman who can unite Syria, in a meeting with foreign journalists in Damascus.

Why Musk Doesn’t Have Access to SpaceX’s Biggest Government Secrets

The rocket company’s executives haven’t sought a higher security clearance for its CEO to avoid questions about his drug use and contact with foreign officials. The answers might no longer matter.

Apollo CEO’s Flirtation With Politics Brings New Urgency to Succession Planning

Marc Rowan is one of the few private-equity chiefs who hasn’t clearly designated an heir apparent.

The New Yorker Magazine – December 23, 2024 Issue

A detective investigates a word search.

The New Yorker Magazine (December 16, 2024): Kate Beaton’s “A Murder Mystery” – Take a closer look at the cover of the annual Cartoons & Puzzles Issue.

Syria After Assad

The scramble is on to define the future of Syria, quickly, to avert a war even more divisive than the conflict that has riven the nation for thirteen years. By Robin Wright

The Secret History of Risotto

The dish is governed by a set of laws that are rooted in tradition, rich in common sense, and aching to be broken or bent. By Anthony Lane

Brady Corbet’s Outsider American Epic

“The Brutalist,” the director’s nearly four-hour study of immigration, identity, and marriage, flowed from his own struggle to create art without compromise. “You really have to dare to suck to transcend,” he said. By Alexandra Schwartz

The American Prospect Magazine – December 2024

Prospect Archive - The American Prospect

The American Prospect (December 14, 2024): The latest issue features ‘What Now?’ – Election 2024 and its aftermath….

How Democrats Can Regain the Working Class

It’s time to go after the nation’s real elite—not the Republicans’ largely fictitious one. Harold Meyerson

The Housing Industry Never Recovered From the Great Recession

A decade of depression in construction led to a concentrated, sclerotic industry. Ryan Cooper

Make It Legal to Build

The Yes In My Backyard, or YIMBY, movement believes that solving the housing shortage entails removing impediments to adding supply. Robert Cruickshank

The New York Times Magazine – Dec. 8, 2024

Issue Archive - The New York Times

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (December 14 2024): The 12.15.24 issue features ‘The Silence of Alice Munro’…

What Alice Munro Knew

The Nobel-winning author’s husband was a pedophile who targeted her daughter and other children. Why did she stay silent?

Opioids Ravaged a Kentucky Town. Then Rehab Became Its Business.

In Louisa, an unbearable social crisis has become the main source of economic opportunity.

Could This Tiny School Break Down the Wall Between Church and State?

Officials in Oklahoma are laying the groundwork to push Christianity into public schools.

Commentary Magazine – January 2025 Preview

Commentary Magazine (December 12, 2024) The latest issue features ‘The Anti-Woke King Of Hollywood Lets Loose’ – Taylor Sheridan’s shows explain how and why we got Trump again…

The Anti-Woke King of Hollywood Lets Loose

Taylor Sheridan’s shows explain how and why we got Trump again by Rick Marin

Israel Chose, and the World Changed

by John Podhoretz

The Trumpmoon

by Matthew Continetti

The Times Will Stop at Nothing

by Christine Rosen

The Economist Magazine – December 14, 2024 Preview

All weekly editions | The Economist

The Economist Magazine (December 12, 2024): The latest issue features ‘What Now?’…

How the new Syria might succeed or fail

The end of the house of Assad. Much will go wrong. But for now, celebrate a tyrant’s fall

What Spain can teach the rest of Europe

Our number-crunching suggests it was the best-performing rich economy in 2024

America’s searing market rally brings new risks

Financial innovation is just as much to blame as the technological sort

Multilateral institutions are turning away from the poorest countries

Even bail-outs are getting expensive