All Notes

On July 4, I wrote about Ezra Klein’s conversation with Bryan Stevenson, and what it means to love America despite its faults.

Graham Platner is once again the political story of the week, this time for defeat rather than victory.

Happy Fourth of July.

The most unexpectedly fascinating class I took in law school was Federal Courts: when federal courts have jurisdiction, and which federal courts have jurisdiction. It didn’t leap off the page of the course catalogue; it looked like the kind of dry class you slog through because studying the law is unfortunately often dry and often a slog.

Today, I read Helen Lewis’ discussion of “masculinism” in the Atlantic.

This week, two immigration decisions from the Supreme Court are in the headlines. There’s a third we shouldn’t miss.

In the early 2000s, a liberal in America had two go-to sources of televised relief from the presidency of George W. Bush. The first was the sanity-preserving satire of The Daily Show, and the second was the bittersweet escapism of The West Wing. I remember in the years right after college getting the DVDs of West Wing episodes in the mail in their red Netflix sleeves and watching President Bartlet and company wrestle with ethical dilemmas, take ideas seriously, and strive for decency, all of which were an appreciated break from the calamity unfolding in the real-world White House.

Gary Shteyngart, in conversation with Ezra Klein:

In WSJ today: Hegseth announces a review of U.S. forces in Europe and threatens NATO cuts.

In the Economist today: “Scammers are preying on America’s illegal immigrants.”

Innovation demands integrity.

It’s Graham Platner’s turn to be the center of the nation’s attention. The tattoo, the texts, the posts.

Bernie Sanders wants the government to take shares of AI companies. Evidently, President Trump does too, as does Sam Altman.