politics

Heavy hitters: The odds are always with whoever has control of the army and airwaves. People can be forgiven for already assuming that the hundreds of thousands...

2009, meet 1979

Heartbreaking. Conservatives in Iran steal the election, cut off all media and give police orders to shoot to kill protesters. Analysis of the stolen election b...

p2p2p2p

when it was hard to find things (before the web), an idea had to be either very popular (the more people who believe X, the more likely you’ll run into so...

chutes and ladders

the web is full of people, bumping up against each other in the dark. there are still only a few architectures in place to create more structured encounters. fo...

reporting

The NYT: Along with Mr. Colbert, who arrived Friday, came 30 members of the show’s production staff. That’s one-third of the usual, but still a large operation ...

politics

Culture clash: One indigenous leader, Luis Huansi, told Reuters news agency on Saturday that about 8,500 protesters had taken up strategic positions around the ...

life imitates parody

In the underrated You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, John Turturro’s character retires from battling the Israelis to open a chain of shawarma restaurant...

4chan

I can’t wait for the inevitable graduate theses on 4chan so that I can read summaries and discussions of same on the web. Previously.

treading water

More Berlusconi: Much of Mr. Berlusconi’s success has stemmed from his uncanny ability to read the national mood. Now many wonder if he has finally miscalculate...

dry humor

Chris Beam: No doubt the new political appointees can handle the job. Roos, as CEO of a global, technology-focused law firm, understands trade issues likely to ...

torture

If we want America to stop torturing detainees, we must ask that America stop torturing its own citizens. We will one day recognize the use of isolation in our ...

slack

From an interview with David Simon of The Wire: The fact that these really are the excess people in America, we– our economy doesn’t need them. We d...