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When COVID struck Rebecca Saltzman’s family, the virus unmasked a life-changing discovery: her husband and two of their kids had genetic heart disease. The kind where people drop dead. As their healthy wife and mother, Saltzman had a new role too—guiding her family through what Susan Sontag called the Kingdom of the Sick. In this column, she explores the anthropological strangeness of this new place, the mysteries of the body, and how facing death distills life into its purest form: funny, terrifying, and sublime.

Read past installments of this column.

Biden must go? And then what? Will Bunch observes: Over the course of a remarkable weekend, I saw the best minds of my boomer generation destroyed by madness — newspaper columnists and other big shots convinced they were cosplayers in a real-world episode of The West Wing, saving America by giving chief of staff Leo McGarry the best words to convince an ailing President Bartlet that it’s time to step down. Democrats, many of them, are panicked over President Joe Biden’s debate performance on Thursday. This is one time Democrats really do seem in disarray. The press is having a field day, of course. But reporters are wary enough of being blamed for holding the drum while the “Biden must go” team beats it that Brian Stelter tells CNN it is no longer us (the press) but Democratic officials turning against Biden. In the grocery store, online, on listservs, and in calls, “Biden can’t win” blares self-fulfilling prophecy in spite of the fact that, at least in the polls, there is no Biden free fall. One in three Democrats believes Biden should leave the presidential race, a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded Tuesday finds.

‘An era can be said to end,’ wrote playwright Arthur Miller, ‘when its basic illusions are exhausted.’ Such exhaustion is palpable in Britain today. Everybody knows that the Thatcherite economic model of the past forty years is failing, with infrastructure crumbling, wages stagnating and public services at breaking point. And yet, a largely empty general […]

If someone’s go-to Fourth of July song is Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” they’re conservative.

If their go-to Fourth of July song is “American Tune” by Paul Simon, they’re liberal.

If it’s “This is America” by Childish Gambino, they’re liberal, and they’re not celebrating.

If a man is wearing a graphic tee with George Washington riding a bald eagle while wielding an AK-47, he’s conservative, but if the shirt features Ulysses S. Grant punching a bear in the face, he’s liberal.

If a woman is wearing oversized red, white, or blue sunglasses, she’s conservative. If the sunglasses are undersized, she’s liberal.

If a man is wearing a Pepsi-bezel Rolex GMT (the red and blue one with the obnoxiously big bubble on the date), he’s conservative. However, if a woman wears the same watch, she’s liberal. It’s rare but not unheard of for them to be married to each other.

If the party features a tie-dye station, the crowd is 89 percent liberal.

A roundup of The Lever’s best recent longreads.

Explained: How malicious bots and other automated programmes are used to spread misinformation - and how widespread they are

This election Compass is only backing candidates who recognise the "farce" of FPTP and will push to remove it in the next parliament

"The way David Meller speaks about his own family members when they are not around shows his true colours"

In its final moments, a microbe moves towards equilibrium in this poignant reflection on life, death and the inbetween

- by Aeon Video

Watch at Aeon

Author Nathan Thrall’s recent book tells the story of one Palestinian family living under Israel occupation.

The post Understanding Israel’s “System of Domination” appeared first on The Intercept.

Jung believed we all have a Shadow self. Facing up to it could help you live more fully and be more forgiving of others

- by Ruth Williams

Read at Psyche

Inflation expectations were highest among people in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee in the years following the end of the COVID-19 recession.

It’s Wednesday and today I don’t comment on the US Supreme Court decision to embed criminal behaviour in the presidency (how much of a joke will the US become) or the Presidential debate, which has focused on the performance of Biden while, seemingly ignoring the serial lies told by the other contender. If these two…

Oligarchy is the default state of politics, and it is surging back. How do we stop it? By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian  27th June 2024 We are about to return to normal politics. After 14 years of Tory corruption and misrule, a Labour government will put this country back on track. Justice and […]

You know what they say: “They always come in threes.” It’s been a rough couple of weeks for film buffs who grew up in the “New Hollywood” era. First, Donald Sutherland. Then Martin Mull. And now, as I’m just learning this evening: The gift of his words, indeed. Although, it’s possible that his true gift was gleaning exactly what was better left unsaid. As he once observed: “Good dialogue illuminates what people are not saying.” Quality, not quantity. A quick refresh on his credits reveals an impressive number of films of note on which he was “uncredited” for his contributions (Drive, He Said, Cisco Pike, The Godfather, The Parallax View, The Missouri Breaks, Marathon Man, et. al.) much less the classics that he is most well-known for. It’s difficult for me to come up with adequate words to honor such a wordsmith, so I think I’ll follow his sage advice by not getting too flowery. Here are my top recommendations: The Last Detail – Hal Ashby’s 1973 comedy-drama set the bar pretty high for all “buddy films” to follow (and to this day, few can touch it).

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Yes, yes they should… I’m seeing a lot of discussion about whether or not the Democrats should use this Court’s extreme decisions as a primary issue in the fall since there’s not a lot we can do about it. I say yes. It’s all part of the far-right power grab that includes Trump and Project 2025. Of course they must run on it. Josh Marshall wrote this today: Obviously, wanting to focus attention on something doesn’t mean you’ll succeed. And for those ready to pounce: No, this is irrespective of who is at the top of the Democratic ticket. The obvious fact is that any day Democrats are talking about Joe Biden’s age is a wasted, lost day. What’s more relevant is that this is not and would not be changing the subject. It is the subject. It’s the actual subject that the campaign and election are about. Donald Trump threatens the entire existence of the American republic. He is able to do this because the Supreme Court he created is assisting him in doing so. It is a corrupt Court. It overturned a central right for half of our population.

As voters look for another option, alternative Democratic leaders poll similarly or even better than Biden — even without name recognition.

The post Every Democrat Other Than Joe Biden Is Unburdened by What Has Been appeared first on The Intercept.

Steve from Accounts, otherwise known as the office-know-it-all, has been spotted hanging out in the break room flicking through a cycling magazine in an attempt to lure people in to a one-sided chat about the Tour De France. ”Last month... Read More ›

A behavioral neurologist spells out the danger.

The post Big Brother of the Brain Is Here appeared first on Nautilus.

Vance said that while he thinks presidents (read: Republicans) should have immunity, it would be up to future Attorney General to decide if Biden should be prosecuted for crimes. I think he undoubtedly speaks for the entire GOP on that. It won’t be hard for them to find a loophole that allows such a thing if Trump is in the driver’s seat. Amanda Marcotte at Salon had a good piece on this today. An excerpt: For all the people who are semi-joking that President Joe Biden now has a legal right to have the military assassinate Trump, Chief Justice John Roberts gave himself an out. Roberts insists that the president “is not above the law.” It can still be a crime if the court determines that the behavior falls outside of “his official acts.” But what makes something an official act?