This was the moment when I realized that social media had empowered drive-by whinings by sociopaths, and that progressive politics had allowed them to cloak themselves in righteousness. What might once have been recognized as narcissism, jealousy, the result of a personality disorder—or just plain boredom—was now transfigured into “calling out” those who had erred.
~ Helen Lewis via The Atlantic
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Footage of Donals Trump dictating social-media posts to Natalie Harp — who is apparently the person behind some of those strange capitalization decisions — recalls stories of Zhang Yufeng, Mao Zedong’s private secretary, speaking on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party chairman after his strokes.
~ Doreen St. Félix via The New Yorker
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It turns out that swaddling college students does not actually improve their mental health. It creates entitlement. It creates a lack of productive tension.
~ Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute via The New York Times
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Cryptocurrency is a long-standing libertarian project—the dream of a privatized financial system. The founders of PayPal originally aspired to create a tool that gave people around the world access to finance, including in poor and corrupt countries without reliable banking institutions. But in practice, crypto’s anonymity and volatility have made it extremely prone to criminal activity and risky speculation.
~ George Packer via The Atlantic
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via The New Yorker:
How the Job Market Will Shape the Next Generation
by Jay Caspian Kang
published on August 25, 2026
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Although young college graduates still experience relatively low unemployment and make decent wages, they have clear and sound reasons to feel more financially precarious than one might expect. The most obvious and long-standing reason is housing: many young people measure their economic maturity through homeownership, and buying a house is becoming nearly impossible in many major metropolitan areas.
~ Jay Caspian Kang via The New Yorker
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