***** NYTimes: The Dobbs Decision Isn’t Just About Abortion. It’s About Power. Rj

The Dobbs Decision Isn’t Just About Abortion. It’s About Power. nyti.ms/3HSsF4x

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.

If we remember those times and places, and there are so many where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act in however smaller way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents. And to live now as we think human beings should live in defiance of all that is bad around us is itself a marvelous victory.” Howard Zinn, “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train.”
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Family Capitalism and the Small Business Insurrection RJ

;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px”> Arising in the aftermath of the housing crash of 2007, the Tea Party targeted a perplexing range of enemies, from subprime mortgage holders, unemployed workers, and public-sector unions to investment banks and corporate giants. In the eyes of Tea Partiers, who saw themselves as quintessential producers and taxpayers, these heterogeneous enemies were united in their dependence on government welfare, be it in the form of public assistance, state-funded wages, or corporate bailouts. As with Trumpian populism, the eclecticism of Tea Party animosity confounded progressive critique. If Tea Partiers were so enraged by the bailouts of AIG and General Motors, could they not be reeducated as leftists?

 

NYTimes: Crypto, Houses, Sneakers, Rolexes: How FOMO Drove the Economy. Rj

Crypto, Houses, Sneakers, Rolexes: How FOMO Drove the Economy nyti.ms/3HsVTqG

For millions of people, crypto, like real estate and dot-coms before it, offered a way out of what has otherwise been a dead-end economy. They were simply trying to get ahead in just about the only way one can these days: Put your money into something hot and hope it goes big. It’s the American way.”
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**** NYTimes: We Don’t Even Have to Look Up From Our Phones to Hate Each Other. Rj

We Don’t Even Have to Look Up From Our Phones to Hate Each Other nyti.ms/3NWBnRz

In an initial flush of romantic enthusiasm, social media and the communications revolution were thought to herald a brave new world of empowered citizens and unmediated, participatory democracy. Yet just a few years later, we have shifted to dystopian anxiety about social media’s tendencies to fuel political polarization, reward extremism, encourage a culture of outrage, and generally contribute to the degradation of civic discourse about politics.”
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NYTimes: Who Can Write About What? A Conversation With Roxane Gay and Jay Caspian Kang.

Who Can Write About What? A Conversation With Roxane Gay and Jay Caspian Kang. nyti.ms/3NWBnB3

Two writers debate writing across identity lines — and how to respond when an author gets it really wrong.

When does creative license become cultural appropriation? Take “American Dirt” and “The Help,” two books by white authors that drew criticism for their portrayals of characters of color. Artists’ job is to imagine and create, but what do we do when they get it wrong?

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