Feb 20, 2017If you’re going to wait around for a march or a protest in which you’re going to agree with every single message that’s on display, you’re never going to participate. You just never will.
↩︎ The New Yorker
Not all Republican politicians are spineless hacks.
- McCain is building a reputation for standing up to Trump. He also says Palin was worth it. Updated Feb 20, 2017 ago
- Mark Sanford holds a marathon Town Hall session with the Charleston chapter of Indivisible.
- Exactly one House Republican has called for an independent investigation into Russian interference.
McCain stands up against Trump, also still says Palin was worth it.
John McCain, self-proclaimed maverick that he is, is the leading Republican in the Senate to take a reasonable stance on many of the batshit things done by the Trump administration.
Though a questionable tidbit from a profile of McCain in this week's New York: the existence of something called "Troll Team Six," an army of Twitter accounts that McCain claims has "neutered many of the campaigns" against him; he also defends his choice of Sarah Palin.
Worth revisiting: David Foster Wallace's dispatch from McCain's 2000 Republican primary campaign, aboard Bullshit 1.
Who wouldn’t cheer, hearing stuff like this, especially from a guy we know chose to sit in a dark box for four years instead of violate a Code? Even in AD 2000, who among us is so cynical that he doesn’t have some good old corny American hope way down deep in his heart, lying dormant like a spinster’s ardor, not dead but just waiting for the right guy to give it to? That John S. McCain III opposed making Martin Luther King’s birthday a holiday in Arizona, or that he thinks clear-cut logging is good for America, or that he feels our present gun laws are not clinically insane—this stuff counts for nothing with these Town Hall crowds, all on their feet, cheering their own ability to finally really fucking cheer.
Walter Jones of North Carolina makes a silent, lonely stand.
Exactly one House Republican has called for an independent investigation into any Russian interference in the election.
North Carolina's Rep. Walter Jones is a 74-year-old, 21-year veteran of the House, who used to be a Democrat until he switched allegiances to win his seat in 1994. Jones didn't give any quotes to reporters about his co-sponsorship of a bill calling for an indepedent commission.
John Kasich wins points for stating the obvious: a free press is an important part of a functioning democracy.
.@JohnKasich on the press: “They’re vital. They really are such an important part of democracy” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/spO4Ttnwza
— CNN (@CNN) February 19, 2017
This, of course, is in reaction to President Infowars.
The Editors' Longreads Picks
- An excellent essay on poverty and writing by Starr Davis. Updated May 31, 2022
- Novelist Héctor Tobar tries to understand the 1992 Los Angeles riots through the experiences of a single high school.
- Steven Johnson with a long assessment of the current state of A.I. and language. (The illusion has gotten very good.)
Welcome to The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2017 edition.
- Our championship match is decided in the Tournament of Books, with news of a Rooster surprise debuting this summer. Updated Mar 31, 2017
- In Thursday's action, Reyhan Harmanci sets up a colossal final.
- The Zombie round opens with Buzzfeed's Isaac Fitzgerald reading The Nix and The Underground Railroad.
Все ваши Белый дом принадлежит нам.
- "Will Putin expose the failings of American democracy or will he inadvertently expose the strength of American democracy?" Updated Mar 3, 2017
- Wilbur Ross just wanted to make some money in ethically gray areas (that should've prevented him from taking office).
- Jeff Sessions's spokeswoman can't help but continue to lie.
The oceans are under assault, and not just from the White House and friends.
- Trump's assault on the environment begins with American headwaters. Updated Mar 1, 2017
- Don't just blame the oil companies for destroying the oceans—blame sushi restaurants.
- Nothing escapes the deepest trenches of the ocean floor. Not light, not nutrients, not pollutants.