November 21, 2016
“Do you see how there’s a difference between ‘cognitive bias that makes you unreasonably afraid’ versus ‘white supremacy?’” Tough read makes a go at untangling some of conceptual difficulties in talking about Trump, “who is going to be exactly as racist as every other American president. Maybe a bit more.” / Slate Star Codex
Long seen as a women’s health group, Planned Parenthood’s prioritization of gender-neutral language reflects core opportunities for healthcare providers to expand definitions of identity. / theestablishment.co
We’re all for taking the autocrat at his word, but there are things Trump says he’s going to do that just, well, he probably can’t. One of those is labeling China a currency manipulator. / ashokarao.com
“You could imagine an American president who allows foreign countries to fall into especially precarious situations to increase his budgetary intake from bribes.” What if the US president was open to bribes? With a shady businessman in the White House, it’s worth considering. / Marginal Revolution
A librarian who studies information literacy says we may be miscasting the issue: the problem isn’t always that people can’t tell when news is fake, it’s often that they don’t care. / The Verge
“If you want something done, if anybody wants something done, you go to the person who knows how to get it done. Nine times out of 10, it’s the support person—the person that’s in the background doing the grunt work. We know who to talk to, and how to make the end result flawless from the outside.” While much attention is paid to women who achieve visible, well-paid leadership, it’s important to remember that strong administrative leaders—almost always women—can make all the difference between an organization’s success or failure. / The Atlantic Monthly
“Poetry isn’t politics. But as my students helped remind me, it can be the fertile soil for our better selves.” An English professor at Iowa on the challenges of teaching poetry in the post-Trump era. / Slate
“We have seen a black president, and we have seen what kind of president comes after a black president.” Poet Terrance Hayes on race and poetry at the 2016 National Book Awards. / YouTube
Are you glad for the variety of small magazines and smart voices in America’s liberal intelligentsia? Thank the academic crisis, which has forced many intellectuals to be more public. / chronicle.com
Your Monday morning artist discovery: New works by Bruno Novelli. / Bruno Novelli
The story behind the Dear Jack letter / TMN
“Ah yes, precisely what our divided nation has been calling for: a Palm Beach conclave of financiers. Easier to hurl spears at them when they’re all standing together like that.” Your Monday afternoon op-ed: What the Left does not need—at all—is David Brock. / The Concourse
As President-elect Trump, that titan of private industry, moves forward with the transition process, it’s becoming easier to see which campaign promises he intends to keep. (Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke for Homeland Security? / jsonline.com
“It makes no sense to remake a system that is not broken.” The FAA’s air traffic control system is the largest and safest in the world. A proposal to privatize it was killed earlier this year. Trump wants to bring it back. / The New York Times
Perhaps the most egrigious privatization plan of President-elect Trump is that for the VA, which, despite freqent accusations that it’s one of the most broken parts of the federal government, largely provides quality health care. / web.archive.org
As many have pointed out, Trump’s $1 trillion dollar plan to privatize infrastructure development and financing would be a disaster. Private industry is loath to finance projects like sewage systems that won’t make it more money down the line, Paul Krugman points out. / The New York Times
“It would be very helpful for opponents of government to do away with a program that clearly demonstrates the power of government to improve people’s lives.” The pernicious reasoning behind Paul Ryan’s push to get Trump to privatize the Medicare system is likely his most dangerous privatization proposal yet. / Paul Krugman
In case the news has you as disgusted as we are:
1. NPR’s Kelly McEvers manages to interview Richard Spencer, the white nationalist who coined the term “alt-right.” / NPR
2. Possible attorney general Jeff Sessions is not finding much trouble in Trump-land with his history of racist remarks / fortune.com
3. New Balance now has to go out of its way to say that it’s an inclusive company after an executive says nice things about Trump’s take on the TPP. / NPR
4. A private speech from Steve Bannon, soon-to-be chief strategist for the White House. / BuzzFeed
5. The alt-right gathers to celebrate Trump’s election, and their leader quotes Nazi propaganda in German. FYI: White nationalists are lobbyists now. / The New York Times, Los Angeles Times
6. Larry Summers, former enemy of “political correctness,” will no longer use the term now that it’s been seized by the alt-right. / The Washington Post
“An old man at the market complains of being tired and worn out. He longs to retire. Why can’t he? We are never told. The colonizing and soul-crushing powers of work were suddenly brought into sharp relief.” A second viewing of Jiro Dreams of Sushi brings out the question: why do we worship work? Why don’t we resist? The problem is less about money, more about shame and work’s “moral test.” / New Ramble Review
Mark Morris meets Westworld? A “cybernetic dance performance” to take you into the evening. / The Creators Project