TLP Week in Review, 1/28-2/3
Your weekly summary of what we've been up to here at The Liberal Patriot.
What We’re Reading (and Watching and Listening To…)
“Chicken Littles Are Ruining America”: In The Atlantic, David Brooks observes that it’s become cool on both left and right to “see the world as negatively as possible”—a development that’s “had a deleterious effect on levels of trust,” gorged on itself, and made “apoplectic rigidity” the main way many Americans view the world. “We shouldn’t let our current season of gloom and menace become self-fulfilling, but rather should help make the country ripe for a communalism of belonging. History shows that it doesn’t pay to be pessimistic about pessimism.”
“The Next Global War”: American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Hal Brands outlines the similarities between today’s wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the conflicts that preceded World War II in Foreign Affairs, saying the comparison just “how close the world is to being ravaged by fierce, interlocking conflicts” for which the United States remains unprepared. “Great catastrophes often seem unthinkable until they happen. As the strategic environment deteriorates, it’s time to recognize how eminently thinkable global conflict has become.”
“Addressing Transnational Repression on Campuses in the United States”: This just-released report by Freedom House researchers Yana Gorokhovskaia and Grady Vaughan details the ways in which autocratic regimes—particularly China, but also Egypt, India, Rwanda, and Saudi Arabia—use “digital and physical surveillance, harassment, assault, threats, and coercion by proxy” to export repression to American college campuses. “These tactics not only infringe on the rights of the targeted individuals; they also spread fear and encourage self-censorship at institutions of higher learning. Transnational repression undermines academic freedom.”
“America's border crisis in ten charts”: The Economist data team lays out the facts on America's migration troubles at the southern border in a concise series of graphics. Bottom line: “Mr Biden is a clear outlier. During his presidency there have been record numbers of apprehensions and expulsions at the border; nearly 250,000 people crossed in November alone.”
John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks’ Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936: Historian Paul Maccabee’s fascinating, entertaining, and fully illustrated 1995 book delves deep into FBI files and lays bare the role corrupt law enforcement in Minnesota’s state capital played as a safe haven for gangsters, bank robbers, and kidnappers like John Dillinger, Babyface Nelson, and the Karpis-Barker crew during the great crime wave of the 1920s and 1930s. He also provides maps for locations identified in the book, so if you’re ever in the Twin Cities you can take your own personal gangster tour of the area.
Live In London: Up-and-coming Mississippi-born and bred blues guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram puts his impressive skills with an electric six-string on full display in his first live album, recorded at The Garage music club in London. If you like the blues-rock stylings of Jeff Beck and early Santana or the straight-up blues guitar of Buddy Guy, you’ll definitely enjoy Ingram’s fiery live work.
What We’ve Posted
“The Two-Parent Privilege is Real” by TLP contributor Justin Vassallo.
“Why Can’t Biden Move to the Center?” by TLP politics editor Ruy Teixeira.
“American Politics is Bringing Us Down” by TLP executive editor John Halpin.
“Middle East Stability Requires a Strategic U.S. Response” by TLP editors Brian Katulis and Peter Juul.
“How To Curb Illegal Immigration—And Why It Won't Happen” by TLP contributor John B. Judis.
Just one more thing…
Film critic and entertainment writer Jordan Hoffman chronicles the brief life and sudden demise of his erstwhile employer, the now-defunct online media outlet The Messenger.
