Reading

Created
Tue, 20/08/2024 - 22:57
“To promote open inquiry and free, market-based technological progress, you need an open society, not one founded on the enemy principle. The understandable desire to escape criticism, misunderstanding, and the frustrations of ordinary politics does not entail the radical remaking of the global geoeconomic order to confound the New York Times and its allies. The cult of […]
Created
Tue, 20/08/2024 - 22:00

Date: August 15, 2008
Name: Gila Pfeffer (nee Reinitz)
Age: 34
Height: 5′3″ (OK, 5′2″)
Weight: RUDE

Who referred you to see us today? My ob-gyn referred me to this practice specifically, but if you’re asking whose idea it was to have a prophylactic double mastectomy, that’s all me. I’ve been wanting to do this since I first heard about it.

Have you had a psych eval? Yes, I’m fully on board with my choice and frankly would need more of a psych eval if I was prevented from having this surgery. If you think my anxiety levels can’t get any higher, oh yes, the hell they can.

Are you aware of the emotional and psychological impacts of this type of procedure? Yes, I expect to come out the other side of this feeling emotionally whole and validated and psychologically strong, maybe too strong, as though I am invincible. Are you aware of the implications of my not having this procedure?

Created
Tue, 20/08/2024 - 21:52
Any fool can reduce debt in the short-term by selling their house, paying off the mortgage and renting a place. Whether you should do that depends upon whether the cost of renting is cheaper than that of borrowing, all things considered. That’s a tricky calculation. But it’s one that households wouldn’t make if they were […]
Created
Tue, 20/08/2024 - 11:00
I can’t believe he did it: Noooooo! In case you don’t remember: Back in 2004 during the presidential campaign, George Bush ordered his cheese steak “Whiz wit,” while John Kerry asked for his with Swiss cheese, a misstep that solidified Kerry’s effete reputation and made him the subject of ridicule across Philadelphia. Vance is supposed to be the salt o’ the earth guy…
Created
Tue, 20/08/2024 - 10:12
In two weeks, I start teaching. My class this fall is Politics Through Literature, which I’ve taught before but have made some big changes to. There are still seats available in the class. If you’re a student at Brooklyn College or any of the colleges in the CUNY system, or if you’re a student in the New York area (the class meets in person), you should sign up for the class. We meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:45. The course readings are below; the syllabus is here. I’ve decided to open the semester with a set of readings on sex and sickness—Amia Srinivasan’s essay on teaching pornography and Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor—and how our most […]
Created
Tue, 20/08/2024 - 09:30
“Did you know the Kamala price hikes have cost the average American family $28,000?” — Donald Trump, in a TikTok video, Aug. 15 Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter. “As a result of Kamala’s inflation price hikes, they’ve cost the typical household a total of $28,000. These are numbers coming from the government. They are not coming from me.” — Trump, media event in Bedminster, N.J., Aug. 15 Former president Donald Trump rarely updates his political rhetoric — he’s using many of the same lines against Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 that he used against Joe Biden in 2020 — so it’s always news when a fresh talking point emerges. In recent days, Trump has claimed that the “average American family” or the “typical household” has suffered a hike in spending of $28,000 under the Biden presidency. Nobody knows where he got that amount and the campaign isn’t saying.